The ashes of the injury-plagued 2012 Minor League season are all but cleaned up after the latest updates on Mason Williams and Jose Campos. Mark Newman confirmed to George King of Baseball America that Campos has completed his offseason rehab and will be ready to start a regular Spring Training with no restrictions, and earlier today multiple beat writers reported that Williams is close to 100% physically and expects to start full ST activities in a few weeks.
Both Williams and Campos were noticeably absent from the list of non-roster invitees to big league camp last week, and their status as top organizational prospects makes their omissions easily understandable. Campos could end up being the only chance the Yankees have to take something positive from the Montero-Pineda trade if Pineda doesn't come back strong from his labrum surgery, and they just put ManBan on the shelf for 2013 after shutting him down because of elbow problems similar to Campos'. Williams projects as the center fielder of the future and had his 2012 end prematurely because of shoulder surgery, something the Yankees have seen be a constant problem for fellow CF prospect Slade Heathcott.
The future potential of both guys, as Yankees or as trade bait, depends on them being 100% physically, so there was no need to rush them back. The most important thing is that they are fully healthy and ready to start the season, and that sounds like it's going to be the case.
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