Written by Greg Fertel
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06 October 2008
While the Hawaiian Winter Baseball league has already gotten underway, the higher level of the two American leagues, the Arizona Fall League, will begin on Tuesday at 12:35 local time (3:35 Eastern). The Yankees have sent a number of intriguing prospects to play for the Peoria Javelinas of the AFL. Phil Hughes headlines a strong group of Yankee pitching prospects that also includes starter Jeff Marquez, Humberto Sanchez (will he start or relieve?), and reliever Kevin Whelan. Austin Jackson is the top position player prospect for the Yankees in Hawaii, and in addition, 2b
Kevin Russo and 1b Juan Miranda will be on the team. This talented group of Yankee prospects will be joined by top prospects from other organizations including Milwaukee catcher Angel Salome and starter Jeremy Jeffress, Seattle SS Carlos Triunfel (age 18) and OF Greg Halman, and Cincy centerfielder Drew Stubbs. It is also worthy of note that Scott Aldred, the pitching coach at AA Trenton, will be part of the team.
The AFL is known to be a hitter-friendly league with a high level of competition, so it will be interesting to see how the Yankee prospects fare. All eyes will be on Hughes, to see if he is able to dominate the (albeit strong) minor league competition that he will be facing, and there will be questions asked if he struggles. It should be a good opportunity for Phil to work on his cutter and changeup and get some more innings under his belt. It will be a nice test for Whelan and Sanchez to see how they handle the AFL batters, and it will be interesting to see if Sanchez is used in the bullpen or as a starter. To be honest I don't expect much from Marquez at this point, but hopefully he proves me wrong. Jackson and Miranda are expected to put up big numbers in the hitter-friendly environment of the AFL, and I anticipate Miranda getting an opportunity to show off his impressive power.
It's hard to put too much stock in winter ball performances, but it could give us a sense of how these prospects are evolving and improving as players. With a number of these guys potentially competing for a spot in the majors next season, the pressure will be on to perform.
