Yankees prospect Duncan still plugging away in minors

Jim Baumbach

1:27 PM EDT, May 7, 2008

Before there was Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, the Yankees' youth movement essentially consisted of one guy.

Eric Duncan

Remember him?

Of course. He was the Yankees' first-round pick in 2003, from just around the corner.

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A third baseman out of Florham Park High School in New Jersey, Duncan was billed by Yankee brass after that draft as the first true cog in the rebuilding process of the depleted Yankees farm system. Baseball America quickly followed suit, rating him the top prospect in the organization.

Next month it will be five years since that draft and Duncan hasn't made the majors. Disappointment? If you ask Duncan, he always expects better of himself. This is his third straight year he's beginning the season in Triple-A, but he won't call himself a failure. Not in the least.

Talk to Duncan for 10 minutes on the phone, as I did Wednesday morning, and more than anything you come away impressed by how level-headed he is for someone whose career hasn't gone the way so many people expected - and hoped - it would.

"There's obviously been some tough times, with struggles and injuries and whatnot," Duncan said. "Injuries and struggles, that's part of it. But sometimes I try to take a step back and take a look at it from a broader picture. I'm still young. I'm still getting the chance to play baseball and getting the chance to play every day. My struggles are still a pretty good day, when you think about it.

"Yeah, it can be frustrating. I don't want to go through it and all that stuff, but I know at the end of the day I work my butt off and I prepare myself as well as I can, every day, physically and mentally. I know if I do that, I can look myself in the mirror at night."

In 25 games this season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre, Duncan is hitting .270 (20-for-74) with a .382 on-base percentage. He's hit .321 (9-for-28) in his past 10 games.

Some days, Duncan said, he feels as if he can reach out and touch the majors, it's that close.

Other days, well, not so much.

"The biggest thing is the mental side of it," Duncan said. "I learned a lot about that last year. Everybody on this level is good enough to play at the next level. The biggest separation is the mental side, as far as having a game plan and sticking with it, not varying from it. Not hitting the panic button too soon."

There's no doubt the Yankees rushed Duncan, which may have hurt his development. He started 2006 at Triple-A even though the previous year he batted just .235 in a full season at Double-A. But he won the MVP at the Arizona Fall League that year, leading the Yankees to push him along.

But Duncan struggled in 2006, went on the disabled list with a back injury in May and spent the rest of the year at Double-A. Last year, in his first full season at Triple-A, Duncan hit .241 (99-for-411) with 26 doubles, 11 home runs and 61 RBIs.

To his credit Duncan doesn't cite excuses.

"When you're younger, you want to prove this guy right and this guy wrong and all that type of stuff," he said. "As I've gotten older and more mature, I've come to realize that as long as I did everything I could to prepare for that game, that's all I need to worry about. You can't really worry about outside influences. Other people are going to form their opinions whether you're doing well or you're not doing well."

Last offseason Duncan took time off from baseball. For the first time in his professional career he did nothing baseball-related. No fall league. No winter league. Just rest, relax and some working out.

Now, Duncan feels he's better for it.

He's still young, only 23 years old. Maybe he's not that can't-miss prospect anymore, the guy that was going to reinvigorate the Yankee system. But he's still there, plugging away in Triple-A, improving while waiting for his opportunity to make the majors. Whenever it comes, he plans to be ready.