The simultaneous collapse of several of their former stars finally convinced ownership to blow it up and fully commit to their youth movement. With that being said, here are three Yankees Prospects to watch going forward in the 2017 season.
- Jordon Montgomery- Montgomery was never considered a big-time prospect when he was first drafted, but he’s elevated himself into the conversation by living up to his potential. He now ranks as the No. 19 prospect in the Yankees farm system, and he could have a future with the organization. Despite the influx of high-end talent this year, the Yankees still lack starting pitching depth, though Montgomery could help solve that problem. Montgomery handled himself well by maintaining a 2.55 ERA with good peripherals over 102.1 innings in Double-A Trenton. He received a promotion to Triple-A in August, and continued to impress with a 0.97 ERA over six starts in Scranton.
- Clint Frazier- The Yankees acquired outfielder Clint Frazier when they decided to part with Andrew Miller at the trade deadline. Frazier spent the majority of his season at Double-A in the Indians system. He played 89 games in Akron, hitting .276/.356/.469 for the RubberDucks in the Eastern League. He had only five games under his belt at Triple-A when he was sent to the Yankees. The Triple-A numbers for Frazier weren’t quite as impressive. He batted .228/.278/.396 with three home runs in 25 games for the RailRiders. He did miss a small amount of time with injury, which should be taken into consideration. With three outfielders (Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury, Aaron Judge) ahead of him on the depth chart, the Yankees can afford to get Frazier more time at Triple-A to start next season. He only turned 22 years old a month ago, so there is no need to rush him to the big leagues before he is ready
- James Kaprielian- Kaprielian was selected by the Yankees with the sixteenth overall pick in the 2015 Major League Draft. He briefly joined the Staten Island Yankees and Gulf Coast Yankees towards the end of the 2015 season. Kaprielian was assigned to Tampa beginning of 2016 season, and pitched extremely well. Through 18 innings, he surrendered just three runs, held opponents to a .136 batting average, and recorded 22 strikeouts while hitting 99 miles per hour on the gun numerous times. Kaprielian made his AFL debut second week of October and gave up only one through three innings of work. He notched six strikeouts, and the radar gun reportedly clocked him as high as 97 MPH, so it was an all-around encouraging outing. In an ideal scenario, Kaprielian would have been ready to join the Yankees’ rotation when the 2017 season started, but things are not going to work out that way. He will likely receive a non-roster invite to spring training once again. Kaprielian will probably start the season back in Tampa since that was where he started last year. If everything goes according to plan, he could end up joining the Yankees at some point next season.
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