Yankees Top Prospects Of The Last Decade
Just for kicks and giggles, let’s look who were the Yankees top prospects, year by year, going back to 2001 – as they would have appeared in most “blue-chip” lists at the start of each given season.
Starting with 2001…and working forward….
2001:
Adrian Hernandez
D’Angelo Jimenez
Nick Johnson
Randy Keisler
Ted Lilly
Deivi Mendez
Alfonso Soriano
Chien-Ming Wang
2002:
Jason Arnold
Brandon Claussen
John-Ford Griffin
Drew Henson
Nick Johnson
Juan Rivera
Bronson Sardinha
Matt Smith
Marcus Thames
2003:
Jorge DePaula
Sean Henn
Juan Rivera
Bronson Sardinha
Chien-Ming Wang
Brandon Weeden
2004:
Jorge DePaula
Eric Duncan
Dioner Navarro
2005:
Melky Cabrera
Robinson Cano
Eric Duncan
Phil Hughes
Dioner Navarro
Marcos Vechionacci
Chien-Ming Wang
Steven White
2006:
Tyler Clippard
J.B. Cox
Eric Duncan
C.J. Henry
Phil Hughes
Eduardo Nunez
Jose Tabata
2007:
Dellin Betances
Joba Chamberlain
Tyler Clippard
J.B. Cox
Christian Garcia
Phil Hughes
Ian Kennedy
George Kontos
Humberto Sanchez
Jose Tabata
2008:
Dellin Betances
Joba Chamberlain
Alan Horne
Austin Jackson
Ian Kennedy
Austin Romine
Jose Tabata
2009:
Dellin Betances
Jairo Heredia
Austin Jackson
Zach McAllister
Mark Melancon
Jesus Montero
Austin Romine
2010:
Manny Banuelos
Slade Heathcott
Zach McAllister
Mark Melancon
Jesus Montero
Austin Romine
Well, there’s a few cautionary tales in there, huh?
What I find most interesting are the guys to be on a list three times or more. These are: Austin Romine, Chien-Ming Wang, Dellin Betances, Eric Duncan, Jose Tabata and Phil Hughes. Is it safe to say that these guys have been the most anticipated of Yankees prospects in the last ten years? Well, maybe you can throw Jesus Montero in there too? And, if he wasn’t traded, Austin Jackson as well.
So, who were the ones that got away? Nick Johnson is back – so, does that mean he’s a push? Clearly, Ted Lilly and Juan Rivera became decent big leaguers. Will we say the same, someday, about Jose Tabata and/or Austin Jackson?
In any event, if you took all these lists and made it into one master list, this is what you would have:
Adrian Hernandez
Alan Horne
Alfonso Soriano
Austin Jackson
Austin Romine
Brandon Claussen
Brandon Weeden
Bronson Sardinha
C.J. Henry
Chien-Ming Wang
Christian Garcia
D’Angelo Jimenez
Deivi Mendez
Dellin Betances
Dioner Navarro
Drew Henson
Eduardo Nunez
Eric Duncan
George Kontos
Humberto Sanchez
Ian Kennedy
J.B. Cox
Jairo Heredia
Jason Arnold
Jesus Montero
Joba Chamberlain
John-Ford Griffin
Jorge DePaula
Jose Tabata
Juan Rivera
Manny Banuelos
Marcos Vechionacci
Marcus Thames
Mark Melancon
Matt Smith
Melky Cabrera
Nick Johnson
Phil Hughes
Randy Keisler
Robinson Cano
Sean Henn
Slade Heathcott
Steven White
Ted Lilly
Tyler Clippard
Zach McAllister
So, are these the Yankees top prospects of the last decade? What do you think of this list?
These lists just show one thing is pretty clear. The Yankees system was terrible the last decade.
[...] Lombardi over at Was Watching takes a look at the Yankees’ top prospects over the last [...]
Steve – Just curious but (1) what was your source and (2) why was the 2004 so short?
Also, I highly doubt that Chien-Ming Wang was “anticipated” as you said above. From what I remember, his emergence in 2005 was a pretty big surprise in Yankee-land.
Finally, there’s a cautionary tale for all prospects, not just some of these guys or just for Yankee prospects. It’s all speculative, after all.
Jake1 wrote:
I wouldn’t say terrible. I would say not as good as it could’ve been.
@ MJ Recanati: I used the STATS Minor League Scouting Notebook and John Sickels Prospect Books – selecting all Yankees prospects, in each book/year, who earned a prospect grade of B- or greater.
2004 was a short list because that’s how many prospects in the 2004 book had a grade of B- or better.
No real surprise here. The organization did everything wrong in the first half of the decade. It drafted low-ceiling players who would move into the higher levels quickly, because it preferred to spend money on free agents and the higher-level prospects could be traded. In several years, there were no first-round draft choices, lost as compensation for free agents. The two-headed Hydra that was the Yankee organization (Tampa vs. NY) made for disjointed decisions and lack of coordination, too. And the head of scouting then was at best marginally qualified.
There’s been some improvement over the past 3-4 years. That said, you cannot hope for great results when you give up three high picks for free agents, as happened last year. Sometimes it’s worth it — that’s the price you pay for a world championship. But we have to hope for a steadier talent supply under the Cashman/Oppenheimer regime. To me, the jury is still out.
@ Steve Lombardi:
Gotcha. According to Baseball America’s archive for 2004, the Yanks’ top prospects were:
1. Dioner Navarro
2. Eric Duncan
3. Rudy Guilllen
4. Joaquin Arias
5. Ramon Ramirez
6. Robinson Cano
7. Ferdin Tejada
8. Jorge DePaula
9. Estee Harris
10. Bronson Sardinha
Scout wrote:
Just curious but what do you mean by that? The jury is still out on whether Cashman/Oppenheimer are doing a good job or the jury is still out on the principle of signing players via free agency over draft picks?
MJ Recanati wrote:
But, don’t forget, the BBA list has to carry 10 guys – since they do top tens. It doesn’t mean that all ten guys are blue-chip, Grade B- or above, prospects.
Just an add on -
Any TOP TEN prospect list that has Estee Harris in it, has to be questioned.
@ Steve Lombardi:
I was just listing out the 10 names from BA for that particular year, not making any analysis or value judgements on them.
As far as Estee Harris goes…yeah…yuck.
MJ Recanati wrote:
He may not have been anticipated, but I remember the Yankees signing him was a pretty big deal. IIRC, that was around the time they signed Wily Mo Pena as well.
He was known as “Tiger” Wang back then, I don’t remember when he changed it.
@ Raf:
According to B-R.com’s transactions, Pena and Wang were signed a year apart (1999-2000).
I can’t say I even remember hearing about a “Tiger” Wang in the system.
@ MJ Recanati:
Thanks, I guess my memory’s playing tricks on me. I do remember going to see them play in Staten Island in 2000 (when they played @ the college). I think Wang started, but Peña didn’t play.
@ MJ Recanati:
From the Times back on 8/23/2000 -
The Yankees, meanwhile, have liked what they have seen from Wang, who improved to 3-4 with a 2.71 earned run average after Staten Island beat Hudson Valley, 6-3, last night.
”There’s a lot of upside potential to him,” Gary Lavelle, the former major leaguer and current pitching coach for the Class A Yankees, said of Wang, a Taiwan native. ”The language barrier is the most difficult thing. But he’s very coachable and very smart and has a good grasp of pitching. He just needs to play against better competition, which is what he’s doing now. That’s the biggest hurdle for him. He’s not used to facing the good hitters he’s facing here now.”
The league has helped Lavelle bridge the language gap by allowing the team to use an interpreter, Dan Mock, during visits to the mound.
Wang throws a two-seam fastball that dives and a four-seamer that sails. He has a slider and a splitter and is working on a curveball.
”He’s a pretty smart guy on his own,” said catcher David Parrish, son of the former big-leaguer Lance Parrish. ”He knows what he’s trying to do out there. His motion is a lot different than every other pitcher. It’s a little more drawn out. He takes his time, somewhat like Hideo Nomo.”
At 20 years old, the transition to a new country and a new culture has gone smoothly for Wang, who spent the previous two years living away from his family at a physical education school in Taiwan.
Mock, who shares an apartment with Wang, said the pitcher prefers Chinese food to hamburgers and hot dogs. They spend most of their free time together or with teammates. ”He’s a cool guy,” Parrish said. ”We try to joke around with him as best we can.”
Between the lines, the transition has been just as smooth. Wang has allowed only 66 hits and 17 walks in 73 innings.
”Everything’s been the same baseball-wise,” Wang said through Mock. ”The batters are more aggressive, swinging at the first pitch. In Taiwan, batters take until they have a strike.”
link: http://tinyurl.com/yarfmv3
@ Steve Lombardi:
Thanks, it’s nice to look back on Wang. I will miss him a lot around here. He was a fun (and easy) guy to root for and I hope he finds his form again and can go back to being a very good MLB pitcher.
@ MJ Recanati:
I was referring to the Cashman/Oppenheimer duo, not to the strategy of sacrificing some drafts for an immediate infusion of talent. Last year Oppenheimer was given a set budget that seemed pretty tight. I think the team did well given those constraints. I was less impressed by the previous year’s draft, even if we don’t fault them for Cole’s decision to go to college.
Scout wrote:
Very fair statement.
we are going to regret signing Cole.
probably already do
@ Jake1:
We didn’t sign Cole so how could we regret it?
If you mean we are going to regret not signing Cole, we never had a chance to. Cole didn’t want to be a pro baseball player yet, he wanted to go to UCLA to chase tail and improve his draft status by about $2-4M and 15-20 slots.
MJ Recanati wrote:
How about doing your homework on a kid that you’re going to take 1st – and make sure that he will sign – before wasting your 1st pick on him?
Steve Lombardi wrote:
No amount of homework would’ve told anyone that Cole wanted to go to college. He didn’t slide down to the latter part of the first round because of college but because he was known to be asking for a healthy bonus. Further, considering that he has Scott Boras as his agent, that tells you that Boras wouldn’t have wasted time with a kid he couldn’t make money with in 2008.
@ MJ Recanati:
Well, then, maybe the Yankees should have told A-Rod to keep his mouth shut?
See:
source: http://special.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/sports/10898505-41/story.csp
@ Steve Lombardi:
Seriously? I’ll just assume you’re being funny and/or tongue-in-cheek and leave it at that.