Prospect Heathcott hitting his stride
Riverdogs outfielder Slade Heathcott. (April 5, 2011) Credit: The Post and Courier/Brad Nettles
After a workout at the Yankees’ minor-league complex during the second week of February, outfield prospect Slade Heathcott pondered his first full professional season, spent with Low-A Charleston.
“I’ve never been a big strikeout guy,” Heathcott said. “That was frustrating.”
The centerfielder, the Yankees’ first-round pick in 2009 out of Texas High School and one of the organization’s top prospects, batted .258.
Heathcott’s bigger problem, as he mentioned, was striking out too much — 101 in 258 at-bats. He’s hitting far better to start this season again with Charleston: .370 with a .440 on- base percentage.
His strikeout ratio is slightly better — 21 in 73 at-bats — but no conclusions on Heathcott can or should be drawn yet, of course. He’s only 20.
