The Single-A New York Yankees affiliate Tampa Tarpons hosted the Philadelphia Phillies' Single-A affiliate Clearwater Threshers the week of June 21. I attended the games of June 21, 22 and 26. There was a rain-out on June 24th, which resulted in a doubleheader on the 25th. I attended the game on the 22nd solely to see Domingo German make a rehab start for the Tarpons, which is not relevant as far as Prospects Live is concerned.
For the uninitiated, fielding and throwing errors are abundant in this level, and in this series alone there were 5 fielding errors and 4 throwing errors. A lot of them are simple mistakes where the player doesn't put the glove to the ground and the ball misses, the player closes the glove too early and the ball drops or the player throws the ball away. That’s only relevant regarding the fact that it may drive in runs, but not count necessarily as an earned run for a pitcher unless an error is charged to said pitcher.
Tampa Tarpons (NYY)
The Tarpons are my “home” team, so I’m much more familiar with this team than others and I’ll have much more to say about them than any other that I’ll cover in the FSL. That said, I will try to remain as neutral and unbiased as possible to provide as fair of coverage as I can.
RHP Tyrone Yulie (NYY) (Click here for high quality video of his outing)
4 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
Right-hander Tyrone Yulie took the mound for the Tarpons in the top of the first for a quick 1-2-3 inning. Having seen Yulie throw numerous times previously, they've reigned in his speed in preference for some control. Yulie can reach triple digits with his fastball usually reaching 97 on the regular in previous outings, but he would have no idea where it would be going. In this appearance, it topped out at 94 and Yulie had much better control.
Yulie has 3 pitches in his arsenal: a four-seamer, a slider and a changeup, but uses the four-seamer the most. The four-seamer reaches mid-90s, with the slider ranging from 78 to 88, and his change sitting at upper-80s. It's encouraging to see a significant year-over-year control bump, and that speaks to the work that Yankees player development has put in and what Yulie has put in.
Yulie did well in his appearance with the Tarpons, despite giving up 2 runs on 2 hits with 3 walks and 2 strikeouts, before getting replaced early in the 4th with Danny Watson (below) after feeling a pull on the inside of his knee.
RHP Danny Watson (NYY) (click here for high quality video of his outing)
2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 HB, 1 BB, 4 K
Watson is a bit of a unique pitcher in the FSL in that he’s the only sidearm thrower I’ve seen in the year plus I’ve been covering baseball in the Tampa Bay, FL area. He has a nasty looking slider that has some insane horizontal movement, but that wasn’t on display when I saw him in Tuesday’s game (June 21).
Watson had some trouble controlling the ball and gave up several extra base hits to ultimately get the loss. Watson had so much trouble controlling his pitches that after allowing an RBI double to Leandro Pineda, on the next batter, Watson plunked Kendall Simmons in the ribs.
SS Alexander Vargas (NYY)
2-for-17, 2 H, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 SB
There was a lot of hype surrounding the stateside debut of the skinny Cuban switch-hitting shortstop, but a lot of that hype has dwindled now that scouts have seen his actual capabilities in person in actual games in Florida. That's not to say that there isn't talent there; Vargas has told me himself that he believes he's a five-tool player. He acknowledges that there's work to do and that the talent is raw.
Vargas slapped the first pitch he saw out of JoJo Romero in the first inning of the series opener for a line drive into center field for a single and that was the only time he was on base in this game. The only other hit Vargas had in the series was the matinee game on Sunday, where he had a line drive single in the 7th inning.
Vargas stands in the box mostly upright, with a very small hunch over the plate. His swing looks kind of lazy or loose, in a sense, and doesn't exude power like the guy who hits behind him, Jasson Dominguez.
Vargas' defense can get sloppy at times, but he has cleaned up his fielding quite a bit. In this series, Vargas turned a number of double plays and made all of them cleanly.
CF Jasson Dominguez (NYY)
4-for-18, R, 3 BB, IBB, 2 K, SB, 2 CS
"The Martian" is still easily the most hyped prospect in the Yankees system, if not in all of the Minor Leagues. Dominguez, however, has not been totally living up to the hype that the scouts sold him as, and he's slimmed down considerably since we saw him last season which should hopefully help him mature into his body as he ages.
Dominguez however does have the power that is as advertised, but it wasn't on display this series (I have seen it previously, however). How his power has changed from last year to this year, I can't say because I haven't seen it in person yet. It's so incredibly random that you have to be in the right place in the right time. I was fortunate to see Dominguez's first pro home run, if nothing else, but that wasn't exactly a moonshot as you'd expect either though. That barely cleared the right field wall at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.
Dominguez's hit ability has gotten a little better than last year because he's seen more variety of pitches, but I would have liked to have seen a bump in his offensive performance by now. Dominguez hit .252/.353/.379 last year and is hitting about the same this year. If there has been an improvement on what I've seen with Dominguez, it's his ability to hit righty given he's a switch-hitter. Like Vargas before, Dominguez hit the first pitch he saw from JoJo Romero for a single in the series opener.
Otherwise, Dominguez would either try to work a count or swing for the fences. There wasn't really any in between. I would have liked to have seen a bit of patience at the plate and in using his power and speed to hit a line drive to one of the corners for an extra-base hit (but that didn't happen).
Dominguez's fielding can be advertised as being a little on the lazy side. If I'm honest though, center field in Yankee Stadium is quite large, and that in Steinbrenner Field is built to spec. Dominguez sees the regular "can of corn" fly ball which is an easy put out and he handles with regular ease. But there was the occasional hit that could have been an out had Dominguez hustled a bit, but either he got a bad jump, ran a bad route or didn't run at full speed.
That said, Dominguez is a more than capable fielder, which is why all of this is puzzling. If he gave 110% 100% of the time, he would be an All-Star caliber player in the Majors like a short Aaron Judge on the Yankees.
OF Grant Richardson (NYY)
5-for-13, 6 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 SB
There's a reason that Richardson, the Yankees' 17th round pick in the 2021 Draft was named the FSL Player of the Week for June 13-19. Richardson ultimately closed out June batting .362 with an OPS of 1.138. He's been the sleeper OF prospect on the Tarpons that I want Yankees fans to know about.
Speaking briefly on him since he doesn’t get a lot of playing time, Richardson played only in the first two games of the series that I saw. Richardson has good enough power that he hit an opposite field solo home run on an outside pitch that was in the opposing batter’s box. It dunked just inside of the left field wall, but a homer is a homer either way.
Richardson otherwise can hit to anywhere on the field to get batters in, and he has exceptional plate discipline. His trouble is that the Yankees have a lot of good OF prospects in the system that it will be hard to get ABs and playing time unless there are injuries like is currently being experienced in Tampa with Ryder Green being on the 60-day IL.
Clearwater Threshers (PHI)
Clearwater doesn't have a lot of their top prospects on the active roster because of a myriad of injuries, including Yhoswar Garcia and Hao Yu Lee. But speaking of injuries, Clearwater had several rehabbing prospects with them in this game, including Donny Sands and JoJo Romero.
Phillies southpaw pitcher JoJo Romero was the starter for Clearwater on the 21st and made a few one-inning appearances. Behind the plate in that game was Donny Sands, on rehab from AAA Lehigh Valley and former Yankees prospect.
LHP Rafael Marcano (PHI)
4 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 HB, 2 BB, 6 K
This was my first (and now seemingly last) look at Marcano all season; Marcano has since been promoted to High-A Jersey Shore as of July 2nd.
Once Marcano got into a groove, I was impressed with how he really cruised through the Tarpons lineup. He did struggle a bit early to get there, hitting Richardson in his first pitch, followed by a passed ball and a double by a struggling Connor Cannon.
Marcano’s chase pitch was his curveball, which tails off at the last minute. Velo on that sat at upper 70s, compared to his four-seamer which was sitting in the lower 90s. I didn’t see too much of how Marcano was throwing otherwise, as I was paying more attention of being behind the camera (just for transparency).
LHP Matt Osterberg (PHI)
4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
I was thrilled to finally see Osterberg in person, even though it meant it would end up being in the Sunday game and boy did he pitch a gem. I really think this prospect is a hidden talent. Every so often Osterberg will toss a rough outing, but the Tarpons are finally finding their stride and this outing was Osterberg’s 3rd shutout appearance of the season (one of his previous shutout appearances was also against Tampa).
Looking at stats, Osterberg had a whiff rate of 75% on his fastball which reached 92 MPH, and the only run allowed all game was on a slider that Osterberg hung a little too low for Benjamin Cowles to grab a hold of for an RBI double.
Otherwise, Osterberg pitched a heck of an outing, and I rarely saw De Freitas scramble to save an errant pitch, which is a rarity in this level. With some movement likely happening soon to make room for incoming draft picks, it’s possible that Osterberg joins his former teammate Marcano in High-A Jersey Shore sooner than later.
C Arturo De Freitas (PHI)
1-for-11, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K
De Freitas is more of a defense first catcher, and that’s rather apparent if you look at his stats, especially those of June where he batted under .200. De Freitas really put on a show in batting practice when I arrived early before the series opener, but I rarely saw that power in a game, as again that is shown in his stats. His biggest issue is that he’s too impatient at the plate and swings at the first pitch he sees.
I’ve been told by others that De Freitas has an incredible arm, but I didn’t get to see that on display because of Sands being on rehab for half of the series. Otherwise, De Freitas is one of the better catchers I’ve seen in the Florida State League.
The only “caught stealing” I saw was a 9-1-2 where Tarpons OF Madison Santos tried to score from first base on an RBI double by Tarpons 2B Benjamin Cowles.
C Donny Sands (PHI)
3-for-10, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K
Given he was traded in the offseason by the Yankees as a salary dump and to release a name from the 40-man, it was neat to see Sands in Steinbrenner Field again, even if it was in an opposing team’s uniform. I saw Sands in a Tarpons uniform just 3 years ago in 2019.
Donny Sands was on rehab assignment from AAA Lehigh Valley and looked like he belonged every bit in AAA. Sands’ double can be seen in the video above off Danny Watson. Sands looks excellent both behind the plate regarding protecting the plate defensively on errant throws (of which there are many in this league) and regarding nabbing runners.
Sands did allow a passed ball and a few stolen bases in his first game on rehab, but it’s unknown if that could be based on direction, or if that’s a restriction of how he felt. It’s unknown of what his injury was or why he was on the injured list, or at least I do not know.
I’m not familiar with the Phillies’ depth situation, but I feel like Sands played well enough in Tampa against the Tarpons that he could slot in for an injury in a pinch if that was necessary. That’s how good he looked in the limited time that he was in Tampa before being sent back up to Lehigh Valley.
LHP JoJo Romero (PHI)
3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
Romero was on rehab with Clearwater for four games while on recovery from a left elbow sprain and spent three of those games facing Tampa. I saw two of those games. The first appearance on the 21st didn’t start off well, with Romero having a rough first (and only) inning allowing the first 5 batters to reach base safely in one form or another.
There wasn’t anything that really impressed with Romero. None of his pitches showed enough movement to really blow me away, but maybe with the rehab they didn’t want him to throw any of his crazy stuff, or maybe it was the angle I was sitting at (I sat on the 1st base side, which was his open side).
OF Marcus Lee Sang (PHI)
3-for-22, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB
Lee Sang really had a strong April and was a thorn in the Tarpons’ side, but not this time around. He didn’t really contribute much other than defense, but like a lot of the rest of the Threshers’ lineup, can work pitches well and will make pitchers work.
I imagine that Lee Sang is in a slump of some sort and would like to see him work out of it. That said, I don’t know if I would project him to impact anything higher than AA Reading given what I’ve seen thus far.
OF Leandro Pineda (PHI)
7-for-24, 1 R, 2 2B, 6 RBI, 1 BB, 6 K, 0 SB
I wasn’t too familiar with Pineda prior to this series, but I very much am now. 7-for-24 is good for a .292 batting average against a Tarpons team that’s starting to figure things out, even if it took them almost 3 months to do so. Looking at his stats, it seems like things just started to click for Pineda too.
Pineda is still pretty new to stateside ball, only having about 70 games under his belt, but plays like he’s been here a while. He’s still a little raw, as you would expect for a 20-year-old, but makes quite an impact on a team with a lot of holes because of injuries.