Sunday, June 29, 2014

Yanks' Top Two Draft Picks Make Their Debuts

The Yankees' draft strategy this year was high on probability on low on projection, and those 2 different means of talent evaluation were no better exemplified than by their top 2 selections in the draft, lefty reliever Jacob Lindgren and righty starter Austin DeCarr.  Both players signed quickly and both made their professional debuts yesterday with the Rookie GCL Yankees.  DeCarr threw 1 scoreless inning with 1 hit, 1 walk, and 1 K while Lindgren tosses a scoreless frame of his own with 2 hits and 2 strikeouts.

Lindgren, the high probability pick, was promoted to Low-A Charleston after the game, so he's already on the fast track that could end up at the Major League level before the season is over.  Assuming he performs well in his first few outings there, I expect him to be moved to Tampa before the halfway point of July.  DeCarr, the projection pick, could stay in the GCL for a few more appearances and likely won't end this year in a full-season league.  As young prep pitcher from a cold weather area, he needs the experience and also the slower path to building up his workload.

Good to see both of them get on the field and into games quickly.  Now let's see what kind of promise they show in their first taste of pro ball.

Sabathia Watch: Throws First Rehab Start For High-A Tampa

Start the countdown clock to July 27th, because CC Sabathia made his first Minor League rehab start yesterday.  He threw 2.1 innings for High-A Tampa, giving up 2 earned runs on 3 hits while striking out 2 and walking 1.  Of his 36 pitches, 24 were strikes and according to Erik Boland, a scout had him sitting high 80s with his fastball and touching 90 once or twice.  The scout said it "looks like Spring Training", which is not a huge surprise considering Sabathia's age, the injury, and the slow-paced nature of his rehab schedule.

Also not surprising was CC's take on his outing.  He said he "couldn't be happier" with the way he felt.  This is the same thing we've heard for every other injury rehab, so take it with a grain of salt, but at least it's better than him saying he felt pain or discomfort in the knee.  No word yet on when or where his next rehab outing will take place, but signs point to it being sometime next week for Double-A Trenton.

Game 79 Wrap-Up: BOS 2 NYY 1

I saw the last 2 innings of last night's game, from across the bar while my girlfriend and I were out to dinner.  You can imagine what kind of fun late night conversation that made for as I watched Derek Jeter ground into the most predictable double play in baseball history and Masahiro Tanaka lose a game on a Yankee Stadium cheapie home run that he probably shouldn't have even been in the game to give up at that point.  It's gotten to the point where the offense isn't enough good enough to win when he's on the mound.  2 steps forward, 1 step back.  What a perfectly blah, bland, mediocre team this is.

Game Notes:

- The Red Sox got their first run on a David Ross homer in the top of the 3rd.  Tanaka missed with a fastball and Ross pulled it into left for a 1-0 lead.

- The Yanks got their run to erase the lead in the bottom half of the inning.  Brian Roberts reached on an error, Yangervis Solarte got hit by a pitch, they both got sac bunted over by Brett Gardner, and Roberts scored on an RBI groundout by Jeter.  Yankee baseball, boys and girls.  Catch the fever!!

- Tanaka was brilliant except for the Ross homer, but I was surprised to see Joe go to him in the 9th when he had D-Rob available.  Facing the 3 best Boston hitters, already over 100 pitches, and coming off a start when his velocity was brought into question, seemed like the perfect time to get him out and go with your best reliever.

- Joe didn't, and after getting a shift-induced double play ball by Papi and getting ahead of Mike Napoli 1-2, Tanaka decided to try him with a fastball.  He left it up and over the plate just enough for Napoli to drive it the other way for the game-winning home run.  Heart-breaking.