Yankees minor league baseball begins today with a prospect preview

Coming up Big

The most intriguing one right now has to be SS Oswaldo Cabrera. And the thing that makes him so interesting is his age. He was the youngest player to be on a Sally League opening day roster last year, at just 18 years one month, and played the bulk of his season there at Charleston.

The Yankees see something in this kid.

Baseball America does, too, as they have him ranked as the team’s 27th best prospect; MLB omits him. And the signs are very suggestive. As a 17-year old in 2016, he batted .345/.396/.523 with four home runs, although he regressed against much older players last season, slashing .252/.306/.321 with another four home runs.

That might just be holding his own, but that is more than might be expected at his age. And he is good enough defensively. Oswaldo has a long ways to go before he proves anything, positive or negative. But the higher he rises, the more we will all get to see what the Yankees do.

Still Time

Fortunately, that is the case for the rest of the interesting group here.

SS Wilkerman Garcia was highly thought of when he was signed out of Venezuela, but his bat has not been nearly as good as his glove. Here is what Brendan Kuty of NJ.com had to say last year at this time, along with his interviewee, Yankees coach Luis Sojo:

"Wilkerman Garcia, ranked No. 18 on MLB.com’s top Yankees prospect list, turns 19 on April 1. The Yankees gave him a $1.35-million signing bonus. Last season, he struggled at Rookie-level Pulaski, hitting just .198 with a homer in 54 games. Here’s what Sojo had to say on how Wilkerman Garcia could improve … One thing that we want out of him is to be more aggressive. He takes everything too easy. He’s very young. He’s got a lot to learn. It’s our job to tell him how to do things. He’s got so much talent. He’s going to be a good player. We just want him to speed it up a bit more, be more aggressive."

That didn’t work out so well.

Garcia hit just .222/.256/.296 last year with one home run for Staten Island. And he has been dropped from the 18th ranked prospect to off of MLB’s top 30. If he is going to turn it around, he needs to start that process now. Any improvement will buy him more time in the system, but he at least needs to start showing it.