Written by Greg Fertel | 11 August 2010

Frankie Piliere gives us a full scouting report on Andrew Brackman. It's absolutely worth clicking through and giving a read, but here's the major takeaway:

But given the progress I've seen from last year to spring training to now, I'd have to say that the righty has shown the ability to improve rapidly. He now shows solid command in the strike zone, a smooth and rather effortless over-the-top delivery, and the dynamic arsenal of a top-of-the-rotation starter.

Seeing good things on Brackman from Piliere is a great sign, as he notes that he had been negative on him over the past year.

Over at The Girl Who Loved Andy Pettitte, Leonora talks about her experience seeing Brackman pitching for Trenton, and even gives us some video from a great view directly behind home plate. She also says that she heard Brackman was sitting 93-94 and touching 96, which is some more good news about the tall right-hander.

Mike Ashmore calls Brackman's last outing "poor," and suggesting that some of it has to do with his mechanics falling apart after 80 pitches. This is something that we should expect with Brackman. A guy that big with so many moving parts is going to take a little bit longer to develop than a regular pitcher, and he has already shown great progress this season.

And two non-Brackman related links:

• Eric over at TYU takes stock of the Yankee farm system and lists his top ten Yankee prospects. I haven't really thought through how I'd rank these guys right now, but Eric puts together an interesting list.
• John Sickels revisits his top 20 Yankee prospects from the preseason. There's some good stuff in the post and the comments section as well.

Written by Greg Fertel | 10 August 2010

10. Brett Gardner, OF

I have written extensively about Brett Gardner in this space, but he has even exceeded all of my expectations in 2010. The Yankees gave him an everyday job to start the season, and it has paid off. Through 103 games, he has put up a wOBA of .355, which is well above average. His fielding has also continued to be a major plus, making Gardner an excellent asset for the Yankees. As a prospect, the question was always whether Gardner's walk rate could transition to the major leagues. So far, it has, and having Gardner could allow the Yankees to save a ton of money when Carl Crawford is on the free agent market this upcoming offseason.

9. Kevin Whelan, RP

The Yankees acquired Whelan from the Detroit Tigers in the Gary Sheffield trade. Whelan had been relatively new to pitching but was showing great stuff. The problem with Whelan was his below-average control, and that was something he never was able to figure out. His walk rates over the past three seasons in the minors are 6.9, 5.5, and 6.9. He is now 26, but unless he miraculously improves his control, I don't see much of a future for him with the Yankees.

8. J.B. Cox, RP

Another reliever, and seeing two of them in the top ten should tell you quite a bit about the quality of the Yankees farm system in 2007. Cox has had an interesting career, going from absolutely dominant in 2006 for Trenton to nearly retiring over the last year. When Baseball America gave him this ranking, it looked like he would be a cog in the Yankees bullpen at some point in 2007, but then Cox underwent Tommy John surgery and never really got his stuff all the way back. He is currently pitching for Trenton, but not well: he has a 5.40 ERA in 16.2 innings and is only striking out 4.9 batters per nine innings.

7. Tyler Clippard, P

Clippard was called up to the majors in May of '07 and had a few decent starts for the Yankees. In his first four starts, he pitched 20 innings and gave up 8 earned runs for an ERA of 3.60. Digging deeper into the stats shows a BB:K ratio of 11:14, which isn't going to get the job done. Predictably, Clippard did not pitch well in his next two starts and was demoted back to AAA. After the 2007 season, the Yankees traded him to the Nationals for Jonathan Albaladejo, who hasn't proven to be very useful out of the bullpen. Last season, the Nats moved Clippard to the bullpen, and he appears to have found his niche there. In 65.1 innings this season, he has a 3.31 ERA and a 3.37 FIP. This should be a reminder that it is usually not a good idea to trade a starting pitcher for a reliever.

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Written by Josh W. | 09 August 2010

We all know about Tex's season this year. The usual slow start, though this time longer than in the past. He has returned to form the past couple of months (August and July especially), and for the most part has absolved any premature worries that may have arisen during his anual early season slump. In March/April, he hit to a paltry 65 wRC+, but hit a stunning 112% above league average in July. He hasn't stopped yet; thanks to a power surge, Tex is 73% above average in August. Today I would like to discuss his power, which has been a huge contribution to his elevated play.

The blue is Teixeira's iso as the year has progressed, compared to the league average, green. As one can clearly see, the Yankees' first baseman has steadly increased his pop as the baseball seasons has worn on. He has done this not only by hitting more flyballs (FB %), but also by turning more of the flyballs he hits into homeruns (HR/FB %).

The graph on the left shows Tex's power as his FB% has increased. The green data point is the league average, or around 37% (FB) for a .147 iso. The graph on the right shows Tex's power as his HR/FB% has increase. The green data point is the league average, or around 10.5% (HR/FB). Both combine to explain Tex's power surge.

Early in the season it is likely Tex ran into some bad luck regarding deep flyouts. Thanks to hittrackeronline.com, we know that on average, 27% of homeruns are "just enough" homeruns. This type of homerun is defined at hittrackeronline as:

"Just Enough" or "JE", which means the ball cleared the fence by less than 10 vertical feet, OR that it landed less than one fence height past the fence. These are the ones that barely made it over the fence...

It took until June 20th for Tex to hit his first "JE" homerun. This may indicate that Tex hit a couple deep flyouts early in the season that usually would have landed in the stands, deflating his JE and HR totals. Since that time he hasn't had any such poor luck.

Anyway, Tex has been destroying the ball lately, and it's good to have him back in form.

Written by Josh W. | 03 August 2010

Earlier today I looked at Gardner's splits page on Fangraphs and I noticed an interesting trend:

My first instict was that Gardner was increasing his passivity at the plate. He usually takes a ton of pitches; he has the lowest Swing % among all qualified players in the majors this year, just ahead former Yankee Bobby Abreu. But this guess appears to be wrong:

He has basically been consistent in his approach this year. For this to be the case, then it would mean that pitchers were changing their approach to Garnder, and not the otherway around:

It seems that pitchers have grown less willing to pound the zone against Gardner. And it's not as if Gardner has recently gained a reputation has a hacker, so it wouldn't make sense for pitchers to adjust their approach to throw him more balls. This in-season trend also seems to mirror a career long trend; when he made his debut in 2008, he was thrown strikes to 3 % more than the average batter (which is a lot) and recently he has been thrown much closer to a league average amount (though still about 1% above average).

Does the fact that pitchers are pounding the zone less often against Gardner mean that they respect him more? Maybe. And if they don't, they should. He is  fourth in wRC+ among AL leftfielders with at least 250 PA's this season, an impressive feat.

Written by Greg Fertel | 03 August 2010

Continuing this series that I started last week:

20. George Kontos, RHP

In 2009, things finally seemed to be going Kontos's way. He started off the season repeating Double-A Trenton, but that didn't last long as he dominated in his four starts there. Upon being called up to Scranton, Kontos continued to pitch decently. In 51 innings, he had a 3.35 ERA, but his strikeout to walk ratio of 39:21 left a lot to be desired. He had Tommy John Surgery in early July of 2009 and is currently working his way back to full strength with the Trenton Thunder. Now 25 years old, Kontos needs to regain his stuff from 2009 and prove that he has a future in the majors.

19. Chase Wright, LHP

The Yankees designated Wright for assignment before the 2009 season and traded him for "prospect" Eric Fryer from the Brewers. The Yankees then used Fryer in the deal for Eric Hinske last season. Wright has not made it back to the majors since his infamous stint with the Yankees. Since the trade, he has pitched for Milwaukee's Triple-A affiliate, but hasn't done too well with an ERA of 4.58 this season.

18. Austin Jackson, CF

From 2006-2009, Jackson steadily rose up the Yankees prospect chart. After doing an admirable job last season in Triple-A, he became the Yankees second best prospect. However, the Yankees opted to trade him in the blockbuster deal that brought Curtis Granderson to the Bronx. While some say that it was a bad trade because, "Austin Jackson could be Granderson some day," I disagree. Jackson does not have the power potential of Granderson and it remains to be seen how well he'll actually hit. This season, Jackson's numbers look great, but have been aided by an extremely high and unsustainable BABIP.

(click read more to continue)

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