Yankees’ Prospect Profile #26: Corban Joseph, 2B/3B

Written by Greg Fertel | 03 December 2009

Photo from TriStar Productions

Background

The Yankees drafted Corban Joseph in the 4th round of the 2008 draft out of Franklin High School in Tennessee. He was committed to the University of Kentucky, but the Yankees signed him with a $207,000 bonus. There was never really any doubt that he would sign, as he had expressed a strong desire to get his professional playing career started. He was born on October 28th in 1988 so he'll play the entire 2010 season as a 21-year-old.

While Joseph attended, Franklin High School went to the state tournament three out of his four seasons. Scouts related him to Chase Utley because he could really hit, but wasn't great in the field. Utley is one of the top five players in the majors, so the bar shouldn't be set that high. One of the secrets to Joseph's hitting success was that he started using video to review his swing at a young age. If he felt something was wrong with his swing, he'd review the video himself and fix it.

It was noted that Joseph worked way harder at hitting than he did at defense, and that's why his bat was so much further along. When he was sent to instructs after being drafted, defense was stressed.

Joseph got into 50 games with the GCL Yankees and held his own. Most impressive was his plate discipline. He walked 20 times(10.9 percent of his plate appearances) while striking out only 24. Stats in the Gulf Coast League really shouldn't be given much weight, but it can never hurt to see good ones. Joseph spent the season at second base, where his defense improved a bit, but still lagged behind his offensive game.

2009

Joseph opened the season in extended spring training and was still putting extra reps in on defense. As it happens so often, an injury is what opened up an opportunity for Joseph to advance. When Garrison Lassiter went down with an injury, Joseph was the guy who was called up to replace him. The Yankees decided that they would play him at second and third base in 2009 to increase his versatility and see if he found a defensive home.

In his first few months of full-season ball, Joseph really struggled. At the end of June, he had a meager .226 batting average. After that, his season seemingly turned around. Over the rest of the year, Joseph put together a .351/.431/.471 line. He struck out and walked 31 times apiece, continuing to show very good plate discipline. His strong end to the season has some prognosticators very excited about his potential.

But is it really that simple? Here's a closer look:

Corban Joseph, May & June: BB % - 10.23, K% - 19.35, ISO - .116, BABIP - .268

Corban Joseph, July-Sept: BB% - 11.92 , K% - 13.78, ISO - .120, BABIP - .401

The key differences here are K% and BABIP, which are clearly the reasons for the increase in average. His power stayed the same and his walk rate only slightly increased. To be fair, Joseph's line drive rate was extremely low in june, and very high in the other months which suggests why his BABIP fluctuated so much.

Even with his high line drive rate, that .401 BABIP is not very sustainable. The steady improvements over the course of the year were real, but the base numbers overstate how significant they were. Over the entirety of the season, Joseph had a .343 BABIP, which was really not too far off from his xBABIP of .332.

On the defensive end, scouts didn't see much improvement. In a sample that is really too small to use, TotalZone liked him at third base, but didn't like him at second. The Yankees want him to stick at second base, and defensive improvements remain a priority.

2010

The 21-year-old Corban Joseph is ticketed for High-A Tampa. My guess is that he continues to split time between second and third base as the Yankees continue to decide whether or not his good athleticism will be enough to overcome his deficiencies at second base. If he doesn't come around at second base by the end of the year, a permanent switch to third base could be in the future for Joseph.

His plate discipline and line drive rate are the skills that have Joseph on the prospect map for me. When I came up with a hitting dominance stat, he actually was a top five hitter in the system. I mentioned at the time that I probably should have ranked him a little higher, and I stand by that. The guy has the tools I like in a hitter. The main concern with Joseph is that his bat will only go as far as his glove takes him.