Yankees prospects: Week 23 minor league recap

There's not much time left in the minor league calendar, and the playoff races are heating up. While one affiliate has already punched their ticket, the other three are still searching for late runs to power their way there.

T riple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

Record: 31-23 (68-60), 2.5 GB in the International League East after a 3-3 week against the Worcester Red Sox (Red Sox)

Coming up: Home vs. Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Phillies)

The RailRiders wrapped up a rough month of August with a contentious split, keeping them within an arm's length of a playoff spot with three weeks to go. They got a bit of a rough deal with Worcester hosting three different rehab assignments this week, including Roman Anthony, but fared pretty well until a rough day on Sunday.

The offense has a lot of name-brand talent already, but they decided to add another former top prospect to their ranks with a mid-week signing of Jarred Kelenic for the playoff push, because why not? Additionally, Mitch Garver is currently in roster limbo after exercising an assignment clause, but the fact he hasn't been added to the active roster by now likely closes the door on him getting recalled without an injury. Anthony Volpe (now getting reps at third base) and Marco Luciano carried the offense this week, combining for seven home runs on 18 hits.

The two prospects who've been here all season did not get to pitch here this week due to promotions to the big leagues, as Elmer Rodríguez is making a pair of spot starts until the schedule evens out while Brendan Beck was needed as the 27th man on Saturday. Alexander Cornielle won International League Pitcher of the Week with eight terrific shutout innings in the best start of his pro career, but the headline on the farm was the return of Kyle Carr, who got double duty on Tuesday and Sunday. He combined to allow three runs in three innings with Xavier Rivas as the piggyback. Let's just say it's not going well for the Ole Miss alum since his promotion.

The team needed two bullpen games due to the promotions, which we saw with Hayden Merda starting both games and tossing three solid innings combined. Eric Reyzelman and Eli Morgan both had terrific weeks as well, and with the rapidly thinning bullpen depth becoming an issue (one attempt to be resolved by claiming John Schreiber on waivers), both could be on the major league radar for cameos down the stretch.

Jasson Domínguez: .269/.347/.420, 7 HR, 29 RBI, 11 SB, 101 wRC+ Anthony Volpe: .235/.313/.504, 8 HR, 20 RBI, 15 XBH, 106 wRC+ (134 PA) Oswaldo Cabrera: .286/.343/.443, 17 HR, 59 RBI, 31 XBH, 103 wRC+ Brendan Beck: 9-2, 2.75 ERA, 3.35 FIP, 1.05 WHIP, 19.9 K-BB% (121 IP) Elmer Rodríguez: 8-3, 2.59 ERA, 3.72 FIP, 1.26 WHIP, 13.1 K-BB% (97.1 IP)

Record: 30-27 (67-59), 3.5 GB in the Eastern League Northeast after a 3-3 week against the Akron RubberDucks (Guardians)

Coming up: Away @ Erie SeaWolves (Tigers)

Somerset had a perfectly fine week, trading wins and losses without anything too good or bad happening. The problem was, in a heated playoff race, splitting sometimes isn't good enough. They lost 2.5 games of ground this week, with scorching hot Reading going up 3.5 games. With 12 to go, these guys are going to have to play some of their best baseball.

It was a fairly pedestrian week for the offense. Jace Avina has had a really crummy month (.213/.314/.258) and will look to turn the page next week, while Roderick Arias and Josh Moylan continue to excel after summer promotions. I want to highlight Manuel Palencia here, who's been one of the best hitters in the system for two months now. After entering July with an abhorrent .504 OPS, he's slashed .351/.380/.596 with a 157 wRC+ in 121 plate appearances over the last two months. His stock is finally gaining some helium.

For the bruised and battered rotation, we saw a struggle of a start from Cade Smith (5.2 IP, 5 R), a 10-strikeout quality start from Dom Hamel, and a rehab appearance by Clarke Schmidt. The two big storylines were two guys who weren't here last week. Bryce Cunningham made his Double-A debut on Tuesday and played double duty on Sunday, combining to allow nine runs in 11 innings with 13 strikeouts. We also saw the return of the struggling Chase Hampton, who missed three weeks on the temporarily inactive list. He tossed four solid innings with six strikeouts, hopefully a sign of things to come.

It was an uneven week for the bullpen, which technically counts Rory Fox's piggyback effort behind Schmidt, where he tossed 5.1 solid innings. Trent Sellers, Michael Arias, Kevin Stevens, and Geoff Gilbert all excelled this week, while others struggled to put up zeroes.

Jace Avina: .250/.347/.466, 19 HR, 62 RBI, 48 XBH, 23.6 K%, 119 wRC+ DJ Gladney: .268/.331/.509, 23 HR, 85 RBI, 19 SB, 121 wRC+ Coby Morales: .280/.372/.486, 20 HR, 77 RBI, 44 XBH, 131 wRC+ Cade Smith: 7-8, 4.98 ERA, 5.43 FIP, 1.44 WHIP, 12.5 K-BB% (110.1 IP) Ben Hess: 3-4, 4.45 ERA, 4,69 FIP, 1.45 WHIP, 13.7 K-BB% (56.2 IP , injured)

Record: 34-26 (64-60), 3 GB in the South Atlantic League North after a 3-3 week against the Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets)

Coming up: Away @ Wilmington Blue Rocks (Nationals)

Hudson Valley extended their win streak to nine games on Tuesday, but struggled the rest of the week as their momentum fizzled out and their playoff hopes dwindled with it. Suddenly, they're going to need to make up three games this week against Wilmington to get in. The division-leading Frederick Keys won the first half, which would invoke other tiebreakers, but the Renegades would lose out on a playoff spot in that scenario to Greensboro, so they'll need to jump two teams here.

The split wasn't because of any offensive ineptitude. David McCann homered twice, Jackson Lovich had four extra-base hits, Kyle West had three, and Hans Montero went 6-for-10 across three games. With only a week left in the regular season, you're looking for guys to finish strong, and that's certainly what Lovich is doing. After striking out nearly 40 percent of the time in his first few weeks at the level, he's put up a 10-game stretch where he's limited them while walking at a significantly higher rate. He was an early-season darling, but is putting together a good body of work in his first full season in the pros.

The bullpen was really ugly this week, so they get most of the blame instead of the starters, who actually pitched quite well. Allen Facundo tossed a quality start (6 IP, 2 R), Luis Serna struck out seven in 4.2 shutout innings, Sean Paul Liñan allowed three runs in five innings, and both Danny Flatt and Brandon Decker pitched brief, scoreless outings in emergency roles. The former had been sent down to the FCL two weeks ago, so that was his High-A debut.

Eric Genther: .273/.407/.441, 12 HR, 57 RBI, 31 XBH, 128 wRC+ David McCann (FCL/A/A+): .284/.374/.572, 16 HR, 54 RBI, 26 XBH, 136 wRC+ Jackson Lovich (A/A+): .287/.363/.506, 22 HR, 84 RBI, 36 SB, 28.6 K%, 123 wRC+ Luis Serna: 6-5, 3.98 ERA, 3.59 FIP, 1.15 WHIP, 20.5 K-BB% (108.2 IP) Allen Facundo: 5-3, 4.64 ERA, 4.43 FIP, 1.44 WHIP, 11.6 K-BB% (94.1 IP)

Record: 39-18 (71-46), 9 GA in the Florida State League West after a 5-0 week against the Jupiter Hammerheads (Marlins)

Coming up: Home vs. Dunedin Blue Jays (Blue Jays)

These guys just keep raking. They outscored a good Jupiter team 41 to 15 in a five-game sweep, marking a 10th consecutive series without a defeat. They're 8-0-2 in series since mid-June and clinched the Florida State League West Division with nine games to spare. It's been a truly special few months for the Tarpons.

The offense is still really good. We're going back to the running tally:

Yostin Pena continues to be a wrecking ball. He went 5-for-13 with a monster home run on Sunday, while also drawing six walks. That last part is important, as he had entred this week with a grand total of one walk in several weeks in Single-A.

Dax Kilby went 4-for-18 with a home run, double, and seven walks. No guy is more content to take ball four than Kilby, who also hit a new max exit velocity at 108.9.

Paul Gutierrez-Contreras II went 6-for-13 with a home run.

Bear Harrison, who was off to a horrible start to his pro career, went 4-for-12 with two doubles and five RBIs. Good week for him.

Tyce Armstrong went 8-for-16 with three homers and two doubles, winning FSL Player of the Week. This is a guy who hit nukes at Baylor and should rise quickly.

The rotation didn't need to be spectacular this week, but they were pretty good. Wyatt Parliament seems to be getting load-managed down the stretch, only tossing 3.1 scoreless innings. Edinzo Marquez and Tyler Boudreau both tossed five one-run innings, but the latter was awarded a complete game due to rain shortening his start. Sabier Marte struck out nine but gave up five runs in his start, but the crown jewel of the week was J.T. Etheridge's best start of his pro career, striking out 10 in six magnificent innings.

Pretty much everyone in the bullpen looked sharp, with the exception of Antonio Gomez's second outing of the week. His stuff is still nasty, but he's a work in progress. The guy of note here is Matthew Tippie, who throws a forkball and has been brilliant for a few months now. Since May 14, he's pitched to a 0.86 ERA with a 20.9 K-BB% in 31.1 innings. There's also Justin West, who struck out nine in a piggyback start and continues to be electric over the last two months.

Luis Escudero: .281/.460/.540, 10 HR, 28 RBI, 17 SB, 160 wRC+ Yostin Pena (DSL/A): .368/.444/.632, 13 HR, 79 RBI, 34 SB, 154 wRC+ Dax Kilby: .272/.444/.437, 3 HR, 23 RBI, 11 SB, 142 wRC+ (135 PA) Tyler Boudreau: 7-3, 3.51 ERA, 4.04 FIP, 1.06 WHIP, 17.1 K-BB% (100 IP) Justin West : 10-3, 4.08 ERA, 3.82 FIP, 1.24 WHIP, 19.1 K-BB% (108 IP)

DSL Yankees: Record: 33-21, 2 GB in DSL East. Eliminated in DSL Cup Pool Play Run differential: +141

DSL Bombers: Record: 25-29, 11 GB in DSL Southeast. Missed playoffs Run differential: +8

Isaias Castillo: .294/.408/.629, 14 HR, 49 RBI, 35 XBH, 28 SB, 132 wRC+ Juan Torres: .385/.470/.644, 8 HR, 65 RBI, 36 XBH, 26 SB, 159 wRC+ David Carrera: .333/.502/.594, 9 HR, 41 RBI, 23 XBH, 160 wRC+ Fredy Penuelas: 52 IP, 1.56 ERA, 3.91 FIP, 1.00 WHIP, 18.4 K-BB% Cesar Acosta : 51.2 IP, 3.31 ERA, 3.35 FIP, 1.01 WHIP, 24.1 K-BB%

Weekly Stats: 8-for-16, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 2 2B, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 SB Season Stats: .328/.427/.656, 5 HR, 22 RBI, 10 XBH, 16.0 BB%, 25.3 K%, 170 wRC+ (75 PA)