Yanks: Riverdogs Announce Their Opening Day Roster

The Yanks minor league full season minor league affiliates star playing on 4/7 and, thus, are starting to release their minor league rosters.   Just from looking at this one, it's apparent that the Yanks will be making ample use of EST again this year to stash guys.   Here we go.  I'll break them down by group.

Outfielders

Trey Amburgey
Jhalan Jackson
Kendall Coleman
Jeff Hendrix

This could be a sort of exciting group while it lasts.  All four guys have exciting qualities, and Amburgey, Jackson and Hendrix could all move up quickly.   Amburgey is probably be the big story here.  He was drafted last year and played extremely well in the CGL and NYPL.   So well, in fact, that I thought they might start him in the FSL instead of the Sally.  He's shown 5 tools and we'll have to see if they keep playing up.

Coleman is also intriguing.  He was a big prep pick a few years ago, but has been injured annually since.  He, like Jackson, is a pure RF, with good size, nice speed and loads of power projection.  We'll see if this is the year he puts it all together.   It's his first shot at full season ball.

Jhalan Jackson was a late blooming college pick last year. He got a little better each year he was in college.  We'll see if he does that here.  He's a prototypical RF, who started his NYPL career like a house on fire, before struggling as the season went on.  He has a good arm, can run, and has plus bat speed and power.  His progress will depend on his ability to identify pitches.  He's sort of the low minors version of Aaron Judge in that respect.

Jeff Hendix was a toolsy college pick with upside.  He played well last year, though not as well as Amburgey, but well enough to encourage.  We'll see how he takes to Gregg Colbrunn's coaching.

An interesting thing about the Riverdogs, is, that because of Colbrurnn family preferences, the Dogs have one of the best hitting coaches in all of Baseball working with their kids in Charleston.  So it would behoove all the hitting prospects to listen up and work.

Infield

Hoy Jun Park
Kyle Holder
Chris Gittens
Connor Spencer
Thairo Estrada
Angel Aguilar

This already looks like an intriguing mess.  Because in truth, there are 4 shortstops and two first basemen listed.   So who's going to play second and third?  Estrada and Aguilar have shown some versatility in the past but it's going to be interesting and something we could see around the organization for the next few years and the plethora of signed and draft shortstops gets digested.

The good news here is that Park, Gittens and Estrada are potentially excellent hitters.  Connor Spencer and Aguilar have also shown signs, but need to get going.   And Kyle Holder, who was the supp pick last year still has to develop a bat to guy with outstanding defense at short.   Gittens and Jackson may see a lot of time at DH.


Pitchers

Domingo Acevedo
Will Carter
Cody Caroll
Travis Hissong
Claudio Custodio
Simon De La Rosa
Anyelo Gomez
Josh Rogers
David Palladino
James Reeves
Andrew Schwaab
Brody Koerner
Willie Gabay

Domingo Acevedo is the big ticket here.  He's the 6'7" flamethrower with the killer change and the developing slider.  He's already pitched in the AFL, and could be a fast mover.  The only reason he's starting in Charleston is that he hasn't played full season before, and they might want to see where the slider is at before they get aggressive, like they were with Severino two years ago.  We should know by FSL time if he's going to mirror that path.

Josh Rogers was an overslot college lefty who was a late sign last year.  We'll see if he can justify it, but he too could move quickly if he shows talent.

Will Carter was the closer for Alabama, just as David Robertson once was.

Cody Carroll is a big righty and David Palladino is an even bigger righty.  Both of them need to show well to keep playing.   Palladino's been around awhile, and if he finally puts it together, could be fun to watch.

Brody Koerner was an intriguing righty pick out of Clemson last year.  James Reeves was a lefty out of the Citadel.

Simon De La Roza has been a long term international project.  He's another guy who could put it all together and cruise or wind up in a relief role.

Claudio Custodio is a pitching conversion who will probably be in the penn and on a short leash.

Andrew Schwaab was a dominant college reliever the Yanks signed after last year's draft, so he could be a mover, too.  Making it this far as a second year undrafted is impressive.

Travis Hissong is an organizational reliever.

Anyelo Gomez is a 23 year old RHP who k'd 18 in 11 innings in the GCL last year.  This could be another fast mover.

Will Gabay seems like another organizational reliever, and is already 24.

Catchers

Radley Haddad
Eduardo Navas

Haddad is a left swinging catcher the Yanks signed a few years ago and will be 26 this year.

Eduardo Navas is sort of interesting.  He's just 19 and a switch hitter.  He's from Venezuala, and was part of the 2013 IFA class.  He hasn't hit at all, but if he ever does, he could be something because his defense has already gotten him into full season.  It will be interesting to see how much he plays.

So there you have it, the April Riverdogs.  And, obviously names like Finley, Gilliam, Hensley and DeCarr are missing and presumably bound to start in the EST.

It will be interesting to see how they start out.