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.
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.
We’ve reached the time of the minor league season where surging prospects begin ascending the organizational ladder.
The sixth week of the minor league season is coming to a close. With enough data to show legitimate trends and not just the small sample sizes of a slow or fast start, the organization can move its best performing prospects to a level that justifies their level of play. Let's take a look at three players who have stood out and are likely heading up the ladder.
The player who has made the most noise in the Yankees‘ system early in the 2022 season is left-handed pitcher Ken Waldichuk. The Yankees’ fifth-round pick in the 2019 draft out of Saint Mary’s College of California, Waldichuk turned heads when he began the 2021 season with 30.2 scoreless innings for High-A Hudson Valley in 2021. That led to an early-season promotion after just seven starts at the level last season.
Waldichuk is turning heads again this year for Double-A Somerset. Through 23.2 innings pitched, Waldichuk is striking out 44.9 percent of the batters he has faced. Scouts are seeing a player who has refined his slider and is more consistent with his command in the zone. Hitters are posting just a .127 batting average with just two homers total against the southpaw.
Combined with his experience last year, Waldichuk has thrown a total of 103 innings at the Double-A level and is clearly showing that he is ready for Triple-A. Waldichuk is likely just one or two starts away from moving up to Scranton, where he could be knocking on the door of a major league promotion at some point in the coming season.
As Waldichuk kicks open the door to Triple-A, he is likely to just miss out on pitching to a new catcher in Austin Wells. The Yankees’ first-round pick in the 2020 draft has rebounded from a slow start to catch fire offensively, all while displaying a drastically improved game behind the plate.
Wells started this season in a 4-for-27 skid across his first seven games, but he has stepped it up since the start of play on April 17th. From that point on, the former Arizona Wildcat is hitting .398/.493/.776 with 6 home runs in 17 games. This offensive barrage comes on the heels of a strong performance in Arizona Fall League, where he finished near the top of the prospect-loaded league in OPS.
Perhaps most notably, Wells has made progress behind the plate. Wells is currently throwing out 29 percent of baserunners attempting to steal against him (not including one last night). That is 10 percent higher than the South Atlantic League average, where runners are only caught 19 percent of the time. It is a drastic improvement from where Wells was in his debut season, when many scouting reports mentioned that he would likely need to move to either first base or a corner outfield position.
Wells played 65 games in Low-A before getting promoted and he will likely finish this week's series with 64 games at the High-A level. He is excelling with the bat and showing dramatic improvement with his glove, making him a strong candidate to move up to the Double-A level.
When Wells gets the call up, coming in behind him at High-A Hudson Valley is likely to be another former first-round pick of the team, Anthony Seigler. The 22-year-old has battled injuries since joining the Yankees organization as a teenager in 2018, only playing in 115 games across four seasons.
Seigler spent 41 of those games at the High-A level in 2021 and seemed to be finding his stride in late-July and early August before he once again saw his season end early due to an injury. With the Yankees prioritizing Wells’ time behind the plate at Hudson Valley, Seigler kicked off 2022 back with Low-A Tampa and is performing well, slashing .258/.425/.500 with more walks than strikeouts.
After splitting time between catching and the designated hitter role early on, Seigler has begun to catch more regularly over the past few series, as fellow catching prospect Antonio Gomez was assigned to the Florida Complex League roster and extended spring training.
There are scouts who still believe Seigler can recognize the talent that made him a first-round pick in 2018. His biggest challenges have come from the attrition that is common among catching prospects. He is off to a strong start and almost certainly on his way back to High-A, where he will have a chance to find his stride at the higher level.
The minor league season is approaching the point of the year where the Yankees’ top performing prospects start moving up the organizational ladder. Ken Waldichuk, Austin Wells and Anthony Seigler are three of the strongest candidates to make that jump in the coming weeks. All three players have shown that they can handle their current levels and are ready for the next challenge.
Yahoo! Sports | Mike Ashmore: Will Warren didn’t really make a splash in the eyes of scouts until he was a junior at Southeastern Louisiana, and now finds himself on a potential fast track through the Yankees’ minor league system. With 34 strikeouts in 25.1 innings for High-A Hudson Valley, the eighth-round pick from the 2021 draft appears primed for a promotion to Double-A Somerset, and Ashmore does a great job of delving into the physical and mental adjustments that Warren has made as he’s turned into a bona fide prospect.
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.
NJ.com | Brendan Kuty: We’re double dipping on Brendan Kuty content here, but for good reason: the Yankees have promoted top pitching prospect Ken Waldichuk to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre! In 28.2 innings pitched for Somerset this season, the lefty has fanned a ridiculous 46 batters next to just 10 walks en route to a 1.26 ERA and 2.31 FIP. Armed with a dynamite fastball and a couple breaking balls, Waldichuk is one of the most intriguing pitching prospects in the organization, and it’s going to be exciting to see how far he can climb this season.
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.
NJ.com | Mike Rosenstein: Yankees catching prospect Austin Wells recently went on the Injured List, and High-A Hudson Valley needed a replacement for their top hitter. Fortunately, the Yankees have a deep core of catchers coming up through the system, and took the opportunity to promote Anthony Seigler from Low-A Tampa. Seigler was the Yankees’ first-round draft pick in 2018, and he played for Hudson Valley last year before Wells took the starting job this season.
A funky left-hander from St. Mary’s who just keeps blowing away the competition, no matter what level he’s placed at? The mainstream prospect media probably thought they’d never have to speak in depth about Yankees lefty Ken Waldichuk, but after an exceptional Triple-A debut this week, it became undeniable: he is among the game’s Top 100 prospects.
Since the start of 2021, Waldichuk has emerged from the canceled pandemic season with a renewed vigor for sending his opponents whiffing back to the dugout, and the southpaw’s first taste of Triple-A ball went swimmingly last week.
While he was surely in consideration for MLB Pipeline’s renewed Top 100 prospects list due to 1.25 years of exceptional work, the buzzworthiness of his accolades at the highest level could’ve pushed Waldichuk over the edge.
All the way to No. 91, in fact.
Waldichuk, in the midst of his second consecutive season of video game numbers, has been honored with a back-end spot on MLB’s list of the game’s top young performers, slotted in between Mariners right-hander Matt Brash and fellow lefty Blake Walston of the Diamondbacks.
He’s only two spots down from Yankees catcher Austin Wells, too, another helium alert candidate in the midst of a powerhouse 2022 (though he currently sits on the IL).
Yankees’ Ken Waldichuk cracks MLB Pipeline Top 100 Prospects
Both Waldichuk and Wells are looking up at Anthony Volpe, who got the bump to No. 5 despite an inconsistent first two months at Double-A.
Now, you want to talk about someone who had no trouble adjusting to the level … Waldichuk struck out 108 men in 79.1 innings of Double-A ball last season after a quick promotion, but held a 4.20 ERA, as his control (38 walks) left something to be desired.
This year? 4-0, 1.26, 46 whiffs (and 10 walks) in 28.2 innings at Somerset before his nine-strikeout debut at Triple-A.
Will Waldichuk get consideration for a potential midseason bump to the bigs? Alongside Hayden Wesneski and Manny Bañuelos, he seems like the team’s best internal prospect candidate when the rotation needs a booster (now that Luis Gil’s out for the season).
The Yankees affiliates mostly split their series this past week, but a few more prospects have started to make noise with their bats.
Three of the four Yankees affiliates split their weekly series over the last week. Jasson Dominguez’s improved play for over a month now is starting to attention as his overall numbers are creeping up. At the higher levels, one prospect had a night to forget, followed by a day to remember for Hudson Valley. Meanwhile, Will Warren has gone from an under-the-radar, eighth-round pick last July to Double-A this year with his recent promotion. If you have any questions about how the Yankees feel about him as a prospect, just look at his incredible trajectory.
Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre RailRiders
Record: 18-29; Ninth place in the International League (East), 12.5 GB
Past Week: 3-3 vs. Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Marlins)
Coming Up: Home vs. Lehigh Valley IronPigs
The Railriders pulled even for the week with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. Top pitching prospects Ken Waldichuk and Hayden Wesneski both turned in strong performances again for the team. Greg Bird and Derek Dietrich have both found their groove and provided much of the offense for the team over the past week. Bird has been putting up solid numbers for two weeks now, while Dietrich’s 4-for-5 performance on Thursday night included a walk-off double in the tenth inning.
Players of Note:
Ken Waldichuk: 8 G; 1.38 ERA, 39 IP, 21 H, 15 BB, 62K (Double-A and Triple-A Numbers)
Coming Up: Away vs. Binghamton Rumble Ponies (Mets)
After a big campaign in the Arizona Fall League, Elijah Dunham put himself on the radar of many prospect evaluators. His early season performance has been up and down for Double-A Somerset so far, but he is now coming to life over the last two weeks. He is displaying the improved power and ability to make consistently hard contact that excited scouts in the AFL. To start this week, the Patriots have already kicked off their next series with a rare Monday game (see the results at the end of the article).
Randy Vasquez: 7 G; 2.43, 29.2 IP, 18 H, 11 BB, 26 K
High-A Hudson Valley Renegades
Record: 13-24; Third place in the South Atlantic League (North), 11.5 GB
Past Week: 3-3 vs. Rome Braves
Coming Up: Away vs. Aberdeen Iron Birds (Orioles)
Anthony Seigler had an eventful weekend. The Yankees’ first round pick in 2018 is playing the best baseball of his professional career right now, but made headlines for both good and bad reasons on the weekend. First, a video of him bat flipping and celebrating out of the box only to be thrown out at second base made the rounds. Luckily, he was able to get back on the field the next day where he crushed a two-run home run that proved to be the only runs in the game.
Players of Note:
Everson Pereira: 8 G; .419/.500/.548, 2 2B, 3B
Anthony Seigler: 31 G; .268/.445/.464, 4 HR, 7 2B (Combined Low-A and High-A)
Eric Wagaman: 18 G; .298/.459/.561, 4 HR, 3 2B
T.J. Sikkema: 4 G; 2.00 ERA, 9 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 12 K
Low-A Tampa Tarpons
Record: 20-25; Fourth place in the Florida State League (East Coast), 10.5 GB
Past Week: 3-4 vs. Lakeland Flying Tigers
The story of the week for the Tarpons was the season debut for Yorlin Calderon, in which he threw a no-hitter in the second game of a doubleheader. Calderon was great for the seven-inning game, and Tarpons’ pitching gave up just one hit in 14 innings of play that day.
The Tarpons have been a streaky team in May, with winning streaks of four and six games. Unfortunately, those winning streaks have been surrounded by a five-game and a pair of four-game losing streaks. Behind those up-and-down performances, Jasson Dominguez seems to have started turning a corner on his season. He has a 170 wRC+ over his last 27 games, and is making a lot of loud contact that is now turning into extra-base hits on a regular basis.
