Top Prospects

New York Yankees Prospects: Anthony Volpe

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New York Yankees, Anthony Volpe

A New York Yankees shortstop prospects with ties to the New Jersey area? Where have I heard that one before? Maybe I’m thinking of this next prospects hero who grew up watching Yankee games at his grandmother’s house in New Jersey. The new prospect I’m referring to grew up in Watchung, New Jersey dreaming of the opportunity to play for the New York Yankees. He loves to talk about the memories he has about the World Series run in 2009, and attending the parade after the Yankees closed out the Phillies in six games. The prospect I’m referring to is the Yankees ninth ranked prospect: Anthony Volpe.

2019 Outlook

Volpe was the Yankees first round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft. Standing six feet tall, Volpe has a lot of similar tools as his idol Derek Jeter. Volpe is not going to impress you with his power, but he has great plate discipline and takes the ball to all fields. Volpe showed off his solid plate skills at times last season, although a battle with mono really hindered his success. Volpe has a great eye at the plate and had an OBP of almost 350 despite having a batting average in the lower 200s. Volpe is very smooth when it comes to his defensive abilities. He has a decent arm at shortstop, and he has the ability to get the ball away quickly. He’s a pretty decent defender, but will continue to develop those skills overtime. Volpe is the second ranked SS in the system behind top prospect Oswald Peraza. Peraza who’s a year older than Volpe does possess more polished skills at this stage in his career, but Volpe shows great promise.

2020 and Beyond

Whenever we kick off the season, I want to see how Volpe does with his batting average this year. He needs to keep his strikeout numbers down and make more consistent contact with the ball. Volpe is going to continue to get stronger which could see his power numbers trend up, but I’m specifically looking at his average. With getting stronger, I expect his arm strength to also improve over the next couple of years. Volpe has the makings of a very good prospect considering that he’s got above average skills across the board. He’s got great speed, and I would like to see him utilize that this year to swipe a few bags. Volpe is still years away from potentially cracking the roster in the big leagues, but the local talent is definitely someone that fans should keep an eye on as he continues to develop.

New York Yankees Prospects: Luis Gil

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New York Yankees, Aaron Boone

There is one New York Yankees pitching prospect that has maintained his spot over the last year in a very fluid minor league system. We have seen some prospects over time rapidity climb up the system then flame out (Chance Adams), and we’ve also seen guys be at the top of the system and turn into great players at the highest level (Gleyber Torres & Miguel Andujar). Luis Gil is a prospect that a lot of New York Yankees fans should really be excited about. Gil is one of the few minor league pitcher that had a consistently dominant year in 2019. Gil has been a top-five prospect the last couple of years for the Yankees, and when you watch him pitch, it’s easy to see why.

Attack Mode

Standing 6’3, Luis Gil is always in attack mode when he’s on the mound. He possesses a fastball that grades at a 75 on the 20-80 scouting scale. His fastball consistently sits in the 96-99 range and he will flash some three-digit fastballs throughout any game. However, it’s not just the speed of Gil’s fastball, it’s the movement. In watching him a few times, his fastball has great rising action which generates an incredible amount of swing and misses. Batters often look lost against his fastball in a similar way that Gerrit Cole can make major league hitters look lost with his fastball. Gil also has a developing slider and changeup in his arsenal. Last year, Gil posted a 2.72 ERA in 96 innings in A ball. Gil averaged an impressive 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings last year.

What to work on

There are some drawbacks to this top prospect. While Gil has an incredible fastball that could play at the MLB level right now, he really needs to work on his secondary pitches. His slider and change are developing, but they are not close to being MLB ready. Another thing Gil needs to work on is his command. Last season, Gil had a walk rate of 4.5 which was the best in his career. It’s still not a great number, but it’s encouraging to see him tracking in the right direction. You do not see a fastball like Luis Gil’s fastball come through the system every day. If he can tighten up his control and take those average offspeed pitches and make them plus pitches, Gil could be a top of the rotation kind of arm. Whenever the 2020 season begins, Yankees fans should keep an eye on the talented right-hander from the Dominican Republic.