Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images Your top questions of the week, answered. Good afternoon everyone, it’s time to dive back into the mailbag and answer some of your questions. Remember to send in your questions for our weekly call by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com. Long Time, First Time asks: Nearing the season’s quarter pole, how about a check in on Giancarlo Stanton. How is he doing relative to our expectations? I’d say this is a pretty good outcome. Prob 50th percentile quantitatively, but like 75th percentile vibes-wise. Curious to hear everyone’s thoughts. I’d say this ..read more

Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Today, we’ll take a look at some short-season league prospects. It’s hard to fathom that we’re already talking about complex ball, but here we are. Last year, the FCL Yankees dominated the league and cruised into the championship, where they were upset by the FCL Braves. While it was a disappointing result, the bigger story was the sheer number of breakouts littered throughout their roster. Names you may be aware of today that were on last year’s roster include Henry Lalane, Carlos Lagrange, Enmanuel Tejeda, and John Cruz (and Roderick Aria ..read more

Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images A strikeout-happy arm returns to the fold. One of the Yankees’ better finds in spring training 2024 was a 31-year-old righty reliever who had only 15.1 career MLB innings to his name, and just three since the start of 2021: Nick Burdi. Drafted by the Twins out of Louisville back in 2014, Burdi has had quite the odyssey over the course of the past decade, with two Tommy John surgeries and a procedure to address thoracic outlet syndrome. Even an emergency appendectomy wreaked some havoc! Nonetheless, Burdi made the Yankees out of camp this year a ..read more

Photo by Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images There wasn’t much going on alongside the Yanks’ loss on Thursday, but the Central was very involved. The Yankees unfortunately couldn’t complete the season sweep of the Astros, dropping the finale after falling behind early and coming just short of a comeback. Still, it’s hard to complain about the results of this homestand: a sweep of the Tigers followed by a series win over the Astros where they largely dominated is a great result, especially considering the low point they were at when they made it back to the Bronx. On top of that, the ..read more

Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images Can the Yankees keep picking up wins as they make their first trip to the Trop? To start the week, the Yankees continued on their pretty solid opening to the year as they took a series against a big-time nemesis: the Astros. Now, they’re set to head back out on the road to take on another big foe of recent years: the Rays. A couple weeks ago, the Yankees hosted Tampa Bay at Yankee Stadium and took two out of three. Since then, the Rays have gone 7-8, dropping a series to the White Sox among others. However, they have played better over the last week-ish, taki ..read more

Recapping the Yankees’ minor league affiliates’ results from May 9th. Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders: W, 14-12 vs. Rochester Red Wings CF Greg Allen 2-5, BB, 2 K 3B Caleb Durbin 2-6, RBI, K, CS, throwing error 1B T.J. Rumfield 2-4, 3 RBI, BB LF Everson Pereira 0-3, BB, HBP DH Jose Rojas 3-3, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB C Luis Torrens 0-4, BB, 2 K SS Jeter Downs 2-5, 3B, HR, 5 RBI, K — go-ahead homer in eighth 2B Josh VanMeter 1-3, RBI, K, fielding error, 2 HBP RF Brandon Lockridge 1-2, 2B, RBI, BB, SB RF Oscar Gonzalez 1-2, 2B, throwing error Tanner Tully 4.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 2 HR ..read more

Photo by Diamond Images via Getty Images Jones making adjustments to maximize his power; Cole has advice for Paul Skenes ahead of his MLB debut; Stanton’s blast the hardest hit ball of 2024; Verdugo putting a clamp down on left field. The Athletic | Brendan Kuty ($): Spencer Jones entered 2024 as the most hyped prospect in the system that hadn’t gotten a taste of the bigs yet, with a monster power profile and Aaron Judge comparison to live up to. He started the minor league season slightly delayed but has been raking since taking the field, and has been looking for any improvement he could mak ..read more

Photo by Elsa/Getty Images New York claimed an interesting arm from Tampa Bay and assigned him to Double-A. Thursday afternoon featured some in-division action on the minor league transaction log. The New York Yankees claimed Colby White from the Tampa Bay Rays and will place the 25-year-old right-hander on their Double-A squad. A 40-man roster spot was open after outfielder Taylor Trammell got designated for assignment to make way for Jon Berti’s return to the active roster. The first thing to know about White is that as a reliever in college at Mississippi State, he was a strikeout machine t ..read more

Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images The Yankees go for a season sweep of the Astros behind Stroman and a reinvigorated offense The precipitous decline of the Houston Astros this season has been one of the most surprising and compelling stories in baseball. After seven consecutive ALCS appearances, the stalwart squad has struggled mightily out the gates in 2024, posting a 12-24 record that ranks ahead of only the White Sox in the American League. The Yankees have done their part to help dig Houston’s hole, sweeping them in a four-game opening series at Minute Maid Park before taking the first two ..read more

Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images The right-hander is throwing his fastballs more than ever, and it’s working like a charm. Since the beginning of the 2023 season, the Yankees pitcher who has started the most games has been Clarke Schmidt, who has also thrown the second-most innings. It was a rotation that featured loads of promise and potential, and yet, as we saw in 2023 and now into ‘24, it’s been Schmidt who has helped lead the way for the Yankees’ starting staff. With the absence of their inarguable leader Gerrit Cole, Schmidt has helped pick up the slack even more this season, as the for ..read more