3 Yankees top prospects currently heating up in May

by: Adam Weinrib —Fansided: Yanks Go Yard

As the calendar has turned to May, some of the New York Yankees‘ most prominent top prospects have finally gotten their feet wet after succumbing to advanced pitching in April.

It’s more difficult than ever to get a hit at the big-league level, considering every team has a stable of 12 disgusting relievers, and every starter has an arsenal that would’ve made Rogers Hornsby keel over and pee. It stands to reason, too, that there’s plenty of advanced stuff at every level of the minors.

The only difference? Some of these guys have no idea where it’s going, which only raises the level of difficulty.

The Yankees’ system, on the whole, had an odd start to the campaign. Many of the group’s most ballyhooed names, players who even casual fans had come to know, started somewhere between “slow” and “extremely slow.” In fact, it’s difficult to find a full season of data from any of the big guns that you can really hang your hat on as a success.

Somehow, though, New York’s prospects corps still checks in among the highest-performing overall units in the game, according to some evaluators, and continues to crank out high-quality depth below the surface (Chandler Champlain and TJ Rumfield say hello).

Finally, as we enter the summer and all eyes (well, some eyes) turn to the farm to see if familiar names like Anthony Volpe and Trey Sweeney can round back into form, these three top prospects are having the most encouraging months. Apologies to Volpe, who’s come around lately, but followed up a great first week with a tough second series. He’ll get there, though.

3. Austin Wells

Austin Wells will tell you he doesn’t belong on this list. After all, the 22-year-old was already performing quite well during the frigid Hudson Valley April, hitting .316 and slugging .491 in 57 small-sample-size at-bats.

Since the calendar has turned, though, Wells has gone supernova — both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.

Someone wants to spend the summer in beautiful Somerset!

Through May 11, Wells has punished the ball, slugging a remarkable .792 with three homers, two doubles, and five runs scored. He’s also coming off a three-walk game, which means the level might be getting a bit too small for him. Nobody wants a piece of the stache, apparently.

On the year, Wells has repeatedly shown why he was considered an elite college bat whose prospect pedigree was dinged only by his lack of defined position. His .434 OBP and 1.014 OPS on the season read like the profile of a much older player tackling High-A for the first time.

Wells, though, is only 22 years old, meaning he’s dominating the appropriate level of competition, but seems hungry for more.

His promotion is not a question of if, but rather when. Conveniently, the big-league Yankees have some long-term questions to answer about the future of the position Wells currently plays. Something about … how they’ve gone all-in on defense but can’t hit behind the dish anymore. Funny how that works. Perhaps if May bleeds into June into July the way it looks like it might, Wells will have a definitive answer by the end of the campaign.

2. Oswald Peraza

Baseball is a game of ridin’ roller coasters, and while Anthony Volpe appeared to be have climbed the peak at the end of April/start of May (when he hit two bombs in five games), he’s now riding an 0-9 in Altoona, which has brought the average back down. There have been flashes. He should be fine. He’s been an above-average player for several weeks now.

But he doesn’t make this list over Oswald Peraza, who’s finally acclimated to Triple-A over the past few games.

Bizarrely enough, both Volpe and Peraza hit .197 in the month of April at their respective levels, but Peraza has hit the gas, going 8-for-32 with a homer and three doubles since the calendar turned. His efforts have been capped by a 3-for-5 game against Syracuse on Wednesday, featuring a homer, two singles and two runs scored (along with, uh, his third fielding error of the season).

If this list had been published a week ago, Volpe probably would’ve been on it. His segment would’ve been highlighted by his birthday shenanigans and stolen base streak. Unfortunately, he’s snapped out of it, and the 21-year-old Peraza has finally shown some semblance of turning a corner for the first time this season.

1. Jasson Dominguez

Did you just read a story from an anonymous scout all about how Dominguez looks “much worse” this year than last year, a year in which he was also not very good? You did, didn’t you? Look at you, you cheeky devil.

Well, we’re pleased to report that Dominguez has turned a significant corner in both power and consistency in May, and might be approaching the 19-year-old version (!!!) of the future star Yankee fans had anticipated meeting back in 2021.

He’s still striking out too much. He’s still not a fully-realized player. But his numbers through 25 games now almost match his 2021 Low-A numbers in 56 contests. He’s got the same average: .252. He’s got a significantly higher slugging percentage (.421 vs .379) and a lower OBP (.298 vs. .353, but it’s on the rise).

Since May began, he’s hitting .306 with five walks in 41 plate appearances, along with four doubles and two bombs. Expanding the window a few days further, Dominguez looks like the type of dominant force many envisioned he’d be when he finally hit full-season ball.

Has the scout who claimed Dominguez “looked significantly worse” repeating the level taken a peek at him after the weather warmed up a little?

Dominguez still has to show fans and experts a higher level of consistency. The highlights have always been spectacular, blended with a hefty dose of puzzling strikeouts.

But, since April 24, he’s been the least of the Yankees system’s problems, against all odds.

RHP Randy Vasquez, the @Yankees No. 16 prospect, has been named @MiLB's Double-A Eastern League Pitcher of the Week. #PatriotsInPinstripes@NYYPlayerDev

Yankees promoting dominant left handed starting pitcher to Triple-A

empiresportsmedia.com/new-york-yankees/y...

The New York Yankees have enjoyed watching left-handed starting pitcher Ken Waldichuk climb the Minor League system. At 6’4″ and 220-pounds, Waldichuk was a fifth-round draft pick in the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft out of St. Mary’s College of California.

Waldichuk started his farm system journey in 2021, featuring with Somerset and Hudson Valley. Over 23 combined games, he posted a 3.03 ERA but had a few struggles with Somerset, earning a 4.20 ERA and 12.25 strikeouts per nine over 79.1 innings.

However, this season has been a bit different for the stud prospect, who currently hosts a 1.26 ERA, 14.44 strikeouts per nine, and an 86.8% left on base rate. His 51% ground ball rate is the best in his entire career and has picked up four wins over six appearances.

Clearly, this was enough to convince the Yankees brass to call him up to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he will feature alongside Luis Gil and a few top-end prospects who are looking to make a jump to the Major Leagues.

Deep-Rooted Athletic Exposure Has Propelled Brandon Lockridge Into One Of Yankees Top Outfield Prospects

by: Matt Kardos —Pin Striped Prospects

There aren’t too many players in the Yankees farm system that offer the skillset package that Somerset outfielder Brandon Lockridge showcases on a nightly basis. The proverbial tool belt is almost limitless for the Pensacola, Florida native. Contact, discipline and speed stand out, but the smaller attributes cannot be overlooked. Instinct, foot work, timing. Not traits that show up in the daily box score, but they are ones that make Lockridge invaluable to the organization.

While it is true that Lockridge has spent a good chunk of his life chasing down the dream of suiting up in the big leagues, he spent a majority of his time as a young man getting his feet wet in many other sports. It was during those grueling years when 25-year-old Lockridge believes he added the athletic traits to his repertoire that have propelled him to being a top-20 prospect in the Yankees deep farm system, according to MLB Pipeline.

“My Dad’s theory on everything was how do you know if you are going to like a sport if you don’t try it,” said Lockridge. “He was big on putting me in a bunch of different sports at a young age and I really attribute a lot of my athletic ability to the exposure of a lot of different sports. I didn’t really specialize in baseball until high school. I played a bunch of sports and I feel like each of them gave me a little bit of a different athletic edge of some sort; a little bit of coordination and things like that. Different sports require different skills.”

Lockridge added, “I would go from wrestling when I got off of school; I would go to wrestling, at a local YMCA at a Navy base. I would leave wrestling and go to football practice and then I would leave football a little bit early, and I boxed for quite a few years with Roy Jones Sr. He had a boxing facility in Pensacola, and I would stay there until a pretty good time of the night – so my whole afternoon was filled doing a bunch of different things.

Instincts and footwork are the two intangibles that every boxer brings into the ring. They also happen to be the tools that make Lockridge one of the premiere defensive outfielders in the system. He is viewed by his teammates as the captain of the outfield and there is a high-level of trust in his ability to get quick reads off of the bat while taking smooth and efficient routes to a spot. In now his fourth season in pro-ball, Lockridge has made just three career errors; his .993 fielding percentage would be among the best in baseball history if he had enough career innings to qualify.

“At that time, I met a lot of great people and was exposed to different instincts and skill-stuff.,” Lockridge said. “You can really overlook the footwork and I feel like that aspect really helped me become the athlete that I am now.”

“I’ve talked a couple time to some young guys, and I gave lessons during Covid back home and one of my biggest talking points, and you hear it a lot on Twitter and people talking about specializing too young,” explained Lockridge. “I think the best thing for a guy that wants to play baseball for a long time is getting that exposure. In basketball you’re learning to jump, move off of one leg and cut and all of these different things are just going to make you a more well-rounded athlete. When you look at the guys in the big leagues that are the best players, whether you are a big first baseman or a pitcher, everyone is athletic. They do athletic things really, really well and if you go back and look, I can guarantee a lot of those guys played a bunch of different sports.”

Exposure is important, but at some point, a decision has to be made as a young and evolving athlete. Every kid with collegiate aspirations meets the crossroads when they have to pick one sport and devote their time and energy to the craft. But, how do you know?

“I stuck with baseball solely because I was better at it,” admitted Lockridge. “I really enjoyed competing and playing different sports. It wasn’t until middle school that I realized baseball was the sports that I was going to stick with.”

Lockridge attended Pensacola Catholic High School, which was regarded as one of the most prestigious baseball institutions in the country during his time there. After realizing he was too undersized to make it on the gridiron during his freshman year, Lockridge dropped football and focused solely on the diamond heading into his sophomore campaign.  With so much attention being paid to the team that was winning state championships, Lockridge began to get some collegiate recognition by the time he was a senior due large in part to that speed tool that we talk so much about.

“It happened so quick,” said Lockridge. “Coming off of really one good year, I had some tools; I could definitely run at that point and was running really well which helped me get seen.”

The part of the story that you probably don’t know yet is that Lockridge was an infielder at this point in time. A few small college offers came his way before he ultimately chose to attend Troy University in Alabama. Over the first two seasons of his collegiate career, Lockridge played 112 games at second base. After a brief appearance in the Cape Cod league in the summer of 2017, talent evaluators began to reach out to Troy manager Mark Smartt to let them know that Lockridge might have better success away from the infield.

“I struggled defensively at second base and made way too many errors my sophomore year,” said Lockridge. “I’ve always had an instinct for tracking balls down plus with my speed; obviously speed anywhere in the infield is good, but to be able to use it over a longer range in the outfield was something that my coach saw fit, and scouts were reaching out to him saying that it would be a really good fit for me and that they could see my value going up more if I moved to centerfield.

The Yankees selected Lockridge in the fifth round of the 2018 draft with only 63 games of experience as an outfielder on his resume. Just about four years later and just three full-seasons of development under his belt, Lockridge is viewed by scouts as a guy that is ready defensively to play in the major leagues right now. That is quite the testament to the dedication that Lockridge put forth to realize his dream.

“I had never played consistent centerfield until the Fall of my Junior year,” Lockridge said. “I dedicated the Fall to taking thousands of reps off of the bat in center to get used to that first step and first reaction kind of deal. It was such an easy transition for me; it just felt natural. In the infield I was spending a lot of time knowing I wasn’t a very good infielder but out there, I could relax and be myself and let myself be athletic.”

Without having to mentally worry about any deficiencies on defense, Lockridge has been able to devote a lot of time into growing and evolving offensively. The lost 2020 season on the field allowed him to focus on swing decisions and approach and it translated into a career year in 2021. Between High-A Hudson Valley and Somerset, Lockridge slashed .298/.352/.495 with a career-best 13 homers while going 18-for-20 on stolen base attempts.

In the early going of this season, the results on paper haven’t been there. The .237/.305/.370 slash line isn’t the prettiest, but the work to ultimately get the results is as strong as it has ever been. At the conclusion of play on May 17, Lockridge was riding a five-game hitting-streak and had hit safely in 11 of the teams 13 contests in May. His batting average on balls put in play is .313 and his 9.5 % walk percentage is on pace to be the highest mark that he has posted since 2018.

“I feel as good as I have ever felt at the plate,” said Lockridge. “I feel like I have been able to carry over a lot of the stuff that I was doing well last year. It’s baseball; I feel like I have hit the ball hard to hit the year and just haven’t had the results that I would like. Hit to some deep parts of the park, made some hard contact right at guys and this earlier in the year, a few hits is a huge swing in your average – if a couple of those balls fall, the scoreboard reflects a much better average. Learning to mentally go about my business the right way and just keep a straight line and just go at it day to day – that mentality will allow me to hopefully play this game for a long time.