BREAKING NEWS: Kuroda Leaves In 2nd Inning With Apparent Hand Injury

It wasn't a good start and it wasn't a long start for Hiroki Kuroda tonight, who just left the game with 1 out in the top of the 2nd after taking a line drive off the fingertips on his pitching hand.  He reached out with that bare hand on a leadoff line drive up the middle, and after throwing a few warm-up pitches to test the hand, hit 2 batters and walked another to force in a run.  More on this story as it becomes available.  Obviously this is not good news for the Yankees.

** UPDATE 7:29 PM- Via Dan Barbarisi, the Yanks are calling Kuroda's injury a "right middle finger contusion."  X-rays still to come... **

** UPDATE 10:16 PM- X-rays came back negative and Joe told the media after the game that it's just a bruised middle finger.  I bet Kuroda misses his next start, but probably no more than that.  Definitely better than a break. **

How Does Brennan Boesch Fit Into This Team?

(Boesch's only Yankee highlight to date.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

There was a brief period of time after his signing on April 15th where things were looking pretty sweet for Brennan Boesch.  He had hooked on with a team in desperate need of help in the outfield, signed a guaranteed Major League deal with that team, and because of the circumstances surrounding the rest of the outfield competition, looked to be a lock for a starting spot in that team's outfield for at least the first month of the regular season.

Then Boesch missed a few games with a strained rib cage, watched as the Yankees traded for Vernon Wells and signed Lyle Overbay, and ended up being one of the final players selected for the Opening Day roster, now in the 4th outfielder spot instead of the starting lineup.  He was on the bench to start Monday's home opener as Joe elected to go with right-handed hitters Wells and Ben Francisco against southpaw Jon Lester, and there he stayed for the entirety of the game.  When Boston went to the bullpen and brought in a right-hander in the bottom of the 6th inning, it was Travis Hafner and Overbay who got the calls to be the lefty pinch hitters over Boesch, and they were the only lefty pinch hitters Joe used in the game's final 4 innings despite Boston using three more right-handed pitchers.

2013 AB4AR MiL Season Preview: High-A Tampa

Continuing our quick run up the MiL preview ladder, we move to High-A Tampa, where many of last year's top prospects made at least a quick stop on their 2012 journeys through the system.  Some of them have already moved on to the next level, some have stayed to start the 2013 season here, and some are making the jump up from Charleston after spending a full year last year in Low-A.  One thing that's for certain with this team- everybody knows who the top two players are.

Breaking Prospect News: Ty Hensley Out 2-3 Months After Hip Surgery

Well ain't it just Prospect Day here at AB4AR?  Too bad this post isn't of the positive variety.

George King of The Post is reporting that 2012 1st round draft pick Ty Hensley will have surgery today to fix a bone impingement in his right hip and is expected to miss 2-3 months recovering and rehabbing.  There were reports that Hensley was dealing with a pulled abdominal muscle early in Spring Training and as Mark Newman so plainly put it, "it turned out this was the cause."

Hensley, a top 10 Yankee prospect in pretty much every list out there (including the AB4AR Top 30) caused a bit of a stir last year after word came out of an "abnormality" being discovered in his pitching shoulder during a physical, although that turned out to be a non-issue.  This latest injury news will surely add concern about Hensley's ability to stay healthy long-term, but with him likely being targeted for another short-season league anyway in 2013 it's not the biggest loss in the world.  Assuming he doesn't suffer any setbacks, we should still be able to see him on a mound this year.

2013 AB4AR MiL Season Preview: Low-A Charleston

While the Major League boys resume their regular season activity tonight in the Bronx, we're still a day away from the Minor League season kicking off.  I meant to cover these previews over the weekend, but obviously that didn't happen.  With no game action to review from last night, now seems like as good a time as any to preview the four big MiL affiliates.  We'll start off this morning with Low-A Charleston, which has seen most of last year's big talent contingent graduate but still boasts a respectable group of prospects.