6. Miguel Andujar, 3B
Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 3/2/95 (23)
2017 teams/levels played for: AA Trenton Thunder, AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, MLB New York Yankees
2017 Stats: Minors: .315/.352/.498, 522 PA, 16 HR, 5 SB, 29/71 BB/K; Majors: .571/.625/.857, 8 PA, 0 HR, 1 SB, 1/0 BB/K
Info: If you wanted a perfect profile third baseman, Andujar might be exactly it. He has plus raw power with a plus arm. He’s put in the time to improve his defense from the time he was signed in 2011 out of the Dominican Republic to current.
Andujar struggled out of the gate in 2017, but after mid-May, he tore up the Eastern League, and continued to tear things up with AAA when he got there. The one downfall of his time in AAA was that he seemed to focus on power numbers, and that did lead to some heavy strikeout numbers.
The Yankees may be trying to get a spot for their top prospect, but if Andujar has his say, third base may not be open at the major league level. He could force the team’s hand this offseason with his excellent play this offseason, with the Yanks looking to move Chase Headley to open a spot at the hot corner.
Andujar will be at AAA if he’s not in the major leagues to open 2018. He may not develop into a 30-homer bat, but he could be a guy that puts together years akin to Mike Lowell, who was a .279/.342/.464 guy with 40 doubles and 23 home runs per 162 games.
5. Albert Abreu, RHP
Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 9/26/95 (22)
2017 teams/levels played for: Gulf Coast League Yankees East, low-A Charleston RiverDogs, high-A Tampa Yankees
2017 Stats: 14 G, 13 GS, 53 1/3 IP, 3.38 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 8.1% BB, 27.6% K
Info: In pure, raw, stuff, only Freicer may have a higher ceiling than does Abreu. When the Yankees acquired Abreu and Jesus Guzman last offseason in the McCann deal, they acquired two incredibly live arms.
While Abreu’s stuff is absolutely top-of-the-line, his control can be flat-out dangerous. He can run his fastball all the way to triple digits, and while he usually is more a command struggle over control struggle, it is scary when he loses both with that level of velocity heading to the major leagues.
While Abreu’s stuff is absolutely top-of-the-line, his control can be flat-out dangerous.
Abreu works with a fastball that sits in the mid-90s and runs to triple digits. He can manipulate the ball to cut it and see it rise as well. He pairs that with a power curve that sits in the low-80s. His change is below-average, and due to an arm motion that is shorter than most, he struggles to get consistent changeup action and repeat his arm action.
Abreu’s biggest challenge will be staying in line with his inconsistent arm action and explosive delivery. If he can find some minimal delivery adjustments (a specialty of the New York Yankees system), he could see his fastball play up even more and his change become even more effective.
Abreu will most likely open with AA Trenton in 2018, but I could see the Yankees keeping him in high-A Tampa to open the season with their primary instructors still close at extended spring for the first few months of the season to work with him.
Next: #3 and #4