Prospect Profile #18: Kevin Russo, IF

Written by Sean P | 06 January 2010

5'11", 190 LBS

Bats-R, Throws-R

Year	Age	Tm	Lev	G	PA	2B	3B	HR	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2006	21	Yankees	Rook	45	181	10	0	3	6	2	20	18	.273	.383	.400	.783
2007	22	Tampa	A_adv	109	414	22	3	2	19	6	15	66	.281	.311	.369	.680
2008	23	Trenton	AA	71	298	17	3	2	8	3	23	42	.307	.363	.416	.778
2009	24	Scranton/Wilkes-Barre	AAA	90	406	18	2	5	13	7	42	55	.326	.397	.431	.828
4 Seasons				315	1299	67	8	12	46	18	100	181	.300	.360	.403	.763

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/6/2010.

Kevin Russo was drafted by the Yankees in the 20^th round of the 2006 draft from Baylor University. The late round pick was given poor odds to succeed by many scouts and prognosticators but has continually moved up the ladder in an impressive fashion to where he now is a utility option for the 2010 Yankees.

Russo was drafted from Baylor University where he was much the same player he now is today. His final season at Baylor he hit .276/.365/.371 with 2 HRs and 15 SBs. Russo has been able to match his performance at nearly every level he has reached, sporting career minor league line of .297/.357/.399.

The Yankees recognized early that Russo would wind up being a utility type infielder and they started shifting him around the infield to give him multiple positions to play. While 2^nd base is his strongest and most natural position (about 4 runs above average for his career) he’s also played 3^rd base decently and shortstop to some degree. Additionally Russo has spent some time in LF. A hamstring injury which knocked him out for awhile aversely affected his defense in 2009 but Russo is an average defender with a surprisingly strong arm for his size and position. Defensively Russo’s description is a microcosm of his entire scouting report- he’ll never wow you with his performance but he always gets the job done.

Offensively the best part of Russo’s game is his consistency. He has a good eye and strike zone judgment and parlays that with an impressive contact ability to cut down on strike outs. He’s only struck out over 60 times once in his career, his second season in A+ Tampa. He also uses a good bit of speed to help get him on base but in terms of results, is not the best base stealer (13 SBs, 7 CS in 2009). The speed and the contact ability have led to some higher than normal BABIP for Russo but when evaluating his 2009 campaign, his .375 mark is probably a bit inflated (.345 career BABIP). Russo also isn’t a masher. He’s only hit 5 HRs once, which happened in 2009, and has only hit more than 20 doubles two times.

On the whole, Russo is a solid utility player who will most likely serve in some role to help the Yankees in 2010. He’s supposedly a very good bunter and his contact skills make him ideal for hit and run situations. If he can show the Yankees his defensive versatility in spring training, there’s a better than average chance he could make the team out of camp.

As for what we can expect from him, CHONE has some answers. CHONE is a projection system developed by Sean Smith of baseballprojection.com and is an indelible member of the baseball community. CHONE forecasts a 0.6 WAR season for Russo, with a .277/.332/.392 batting line. That would translate to a .320 .wOBA which is below average for the league. They also have Russo pegged for 5 HRs in his 350ish forecasted at bats. I’m not terribly sold on his batting line, but if he does manage to hit in that fashion and can field better than the projected -5 runs below average on defense, Russo has a shot to be a 1 WAR player in 2010.