Minor League Notes

A couple minor league notes as we steam on towards game time:

Last year's first round pick, Slade Heathcott, was promoted from Extended Spring Training to low-A Charleston. He made his 2010 debut last night, going one for five with a single. He made his lone hit count though, singling with the bases loaded in the tenth to give the RiverDogs a walkoff 5-4 win. Heathcott played center field, and batted leadoff.

This is similar to the plan the Yankees have used with last year's second round pick JR Murphy. Murphy was sent to Charleston in mid-May and has been splitting time between catcher and DH. The organization has said they wanted Murphy to get some experience playing in minor league stadiums and under lights before sending him to Staten Island when the short season NY-Penn League starts up this summer. Heathcott is likely getting the same treatment.

Elsewhere in the minors yesterday, 2007 first round pick Andrew Brackman continued his recent hot streak. He went five scoreless innings last night, giving up just three hits and a walk while striking out seven. Over his last five starts, he's posted a 1.65 ERA over 27.1 IP, allowed 22 hits and 5 walks, and struck out 26.

Minor League Round Up

Good morning Fackers. Full season minor leagues had their Opening Night last night, and the Yankees had their AAA, AA, high A, and A teams in action. The organization went four for four on the night, sweeping their slate of games.

• Jesus Montero made his AAA debut, catching and batting sixth. He doubled in his first at bat, then went 0 for 2 the rest of the way. Scranton beat Buffalo, the Mets' affiliate, 1-0 behind a David Winfree home run and a combined shutout from Ivan Nova, Mark Melancon, Boone Logan, and Jonathan Albaladejo. For Opening Night at least, the infield was Kevin Russo, Eduardo Nunez, Reegie Corona, and Juan Miranda from third to first. Colin Curtis, Greg Golson, and Winfree were the outfielders with Jon Weber DHing. Here's the full Scranton roster at present, courtesy of Pending Pinstripes.


• Recently acquired Chad Huffman was not in Scranton's line up last night, presumably because he hadn't arrived yet. Padres' assistant GM and Moneyball superstar Paul DePodesta had some comments on Huffman yesterday, and Rob Neyer extrapolated on them.


• Back to Montero, RAB's Mike Axisa, in his other gig over at MLBTradeRumors, took a look at Montero's status as a blocked prospect.


• Elsewhere in Scranton, Kei Igawa is heading to the bullpen. While Bronx Baseball Daily's Chris Barrows is in favor of the move, I don't like it. Igawa would be no better than the club's third best option for a lefty reliever, behind Boone Logan and Royce Ring. Behind them at AA are southpaws Wilkins Arias and Wilkin De La Rosa. Igawa is of even less value to the Yankees as a reliever. He's proven to be a successful starter at the AAA level, but a disaster in the Bronx. By no means should he be in the Scranton rotation ahead of more viable prospects, but if nothing else he can serve as an innings eater there. If he's of no value doing that, it's high time the Yankees flip him to a lesser club that has some use for him. He's not going to hack it in the Bronx; his posting fee and contract are sunk costs; the club might as well take a flier on a C-level prospect in exchange for him.


• Ivan Nova left his start last night after only four innings, but don't fret, he was pulled after a rain delay. Trenton wasn't quite so lucky with their starter, as their 4-o victory was marred by a sixth inning elbow injury to starter Christian Garcia. It's just the latest in long line of injuries for Garcia, and unfortunately the early returns are that it's pretty serious. Garcia has always had great stuff, prompting this glowing review from former scout Frankie Piliere earlier this spring. But since being drafted in 2004 Garcia has topped 65 IP just once - in 2005 - missed all of 2007, and threw just 25 innings last year. He's on the Yankees 40 man roster and since he was injured in minor league play, he cannot be transferred to the 60 day DL to clear a roster spot. If he is indeed out for the year the Yankees would either have to recall him and DL him, or DFA him to clear the spot.


• Prospects Austin Romine, David Adams, Brandon Laird, and Damon Sublett all made their AA debuts last night. Romine and Adams had a base hit apiece, Laird had two, and Sublett took the collar. Reid Gorecki, the odd man out in Scranton's outfield crunch, is also on the Trenton roster after seeing action in 31 Major League games for the Braves last year.


• High A Tampa also won via shutout, taking a 4-0 victory over Lakeland. Hector Noesi, added to the 40 man roster in the off season, went six strong innings, allowing two hits, a walk, and fanning six. He's the most likely candidate to take Garcia's spot in Trenton.


• Charleston was the only affiliate to allow a run last night, beating Lexington 5-2. Charleston's roster is comprised mostly of last year's draft picks who played at short-season Staten Island last summer. Slade Heathcott is not amongst them at present, as he'll begin the season in Extended Spring Training.

We don't do a ton of minor league coverage here, but with last night being Opening Night and the big club having an off night, today was a good day to go through this. For day-to-day minor league coverage be sure to check out Mike's nightly Down on the Farm post at RAB as well as Greg and Sean's work at Pending Pinstripes. Further, both Scranton and Trenton have excellent beat writers providing great coverage. Donnie Collins takes over for LoHud's Chad Jennings at The Times-Tribune, and Mike Ashmore maintains Thunder Thoughts.

Minor League Round Up

We don't give as much attention as we should to the minor league system here. With today being a slow day for us and the minor league seasons winding down, here's a look at a few things going in the Yankees system:

• AAA Scranton won their semifinal playoff series against Gwinnett County (Braves) three games to one and will now face Durham (Rays) for the Governor's Cup. Despite having half their roster in the Bronx right now, Scranton is looking for their second consecutive International League title, as they beat Durham in the final last year. Top pitching prospect Zach McAllister made his AAA debut in Game 4 of the semis, and picked up the win in the clincher. The best of five championship series begins tomorrow.

• AA Trenton fell short in their push for a post-season berth, getting eliminated Labor Day weekend during the final series of the regular season. Trenton's elimination is somewhat functional for the organization though, allowing them to redistribute Trenton's roster to other levels, particularly AAA, where help is needed.

• High A Tampa is tied 1-1 in the best of five Florida State League Finals against Charlotte. In a surprise move, Ian Kennedy was activated to pitch Game 1 of this series. He was due to throw a simulated game that day anyway, so apparently the organization decided to let him face live hitters instead. He went two scoreless innings, giving up a hit and recording a K. Next stop for him is the Arizona Fall League as he returns from his aneurysm.

• Low A Charleston did not qualify for the post-season.

• Short-season Staten Island is in the New York-Pennsylvania League finals. The best of three series against Mahoning Valley (Indians) begins tomorrow.

• The Rookie League Gulf Coast Yankees lost their one game semi-final against the Marlins.

Game 37: Keep It Movin'

As A.J. Burnett looks to move the Yankees winning streak to 5, I'll be looking to keeping it movin' through some Sunday traffic on I-95. 

I am embarking on a bit of a road trip this morning to the homeland of Brett Gardner that should span most of this week. That means content is going to be scaled back a bit, but I'm hoping our other contributors will be able to fill in the gaps. The journey should include a minor league Yankees game, a concert and some other fun stuff, so I'll put up some posts if the experiences are sufficently interesting. 

Keep it movin', (do the K.I.M),
Keep it movin', (do the K.I.M),
Ain't got no time for shuckin' and jivin' (do the K.I.M.).