Yankees' top position-player prospects are struggling

BALTIMORE — It’s been slow out of the gate for the Yankees offensively at the big-league level, and the same has been true for some of the club’s top prospects.

It is a splash of cold water for fans — and especially some media members who project far too many players far too quickly as future major-leaguers — who automatically expect, and assume, hyped prospects will shoot through the minor-league system.

Top Yankees position prospect Anthony Volpe, for instance, has struggled in his adjustment to Double-A ball. Entering Saturday, the 20-year-old shortstop was 3-for-24 (.125) with 10 strikeouts, one double and a .381 OPS with Somerset.

“Looks to be maybe pressing a little bit,” one rival scout from the American League said. “But that’s almost expected.”

The scout said the biggest jump for players often is the one from Class A to Double-A, an almost universally accepted truism among talent evaluators in the sport. That's  the jump Volpe is attempting to make.

Volpe, like pretty much every top prospect in the sport, had a lost season in 2020 because the pandemic wiped out minor-league play. But he excelled last season in Class A — first with Tampa and then with High-A Hudson Valley — combining to hit .294 with 27 homers and a 1.027 OPS in 109 games.

Still, the pool of talent quickly deepens in Double-A. Players are just two steps from the big leagues, and many  experience a significant adjustment period.

It's an adjustment that scouts have little doubt that Volpe — the most asked- about prospect in the system, along with fellow shortstop prospect Oswald Peraza — will make. Just not necessarily instantaneously.

“He’s such a mature player, especially for someone that young,” said one National League evaluator who watched Volpe throughout 2021. "Everyone presses at some point. Some guys you worry about with that [long-term]. He’s not one [of them].”  

Speaking of Peraza, the “just bring him up!” crowd — unhappy with the Yankees not going after any of the big-ticket shortstops in the free-agent market and unimpressed with Isiah Kiner-Falefa in spring  training — has been silenced for now. Like Volpe, the 21-year-old has had some early difficulty at the plate.

Going into Saturday, Peraza, who has as many fans in the rival scouting community as Volpe does, was 6-for-31 (.194) with five strikeouts, one homer and a .565 OPS for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Peraza blitzed through the system in 2021, starting with Hudson Valley, spending most of the year with Somerset (79 games) and ending the season with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he played his final eight games.

Switch hitter Jasson Dominguez, 19, aka “The Martian,” has fared a bit better with Class A Tampa, off to a 6-for-27 (.222) start with two doubles, eight strikeouts and a .546 OPS.

“A lot of strength,” one opposing team talent evaluator said. “He gets himself out with some early swings but has barreled it up and has had some loud contact. He’s going to hit home runs one day. It’s more of a line-drive swing right now.”

The scout added: “Kid is still young . . . but the youth thing won’t play much past this year.”

Catcher Austin Wells and shortstop Trey Sweeney, also considered top organizational prospects, currently are with Hudson Valley. Wells came into Saturday 4-for-23 (.174) with two doubles, six strikeouts and a .571 OPS and Sweeney entered the day 7-for-28 with two homers, eight strikeouts and a .915 OPS, respectively.  

All of these sample sizes are too small to make any determinations. It's just a reminder of the overall difficulty of the sport and advancing in it.  

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.