Here's a little something to get excited about as we're now less than two weeks away from pitchers and catchers. Last year we got a little taste of Aaron Judge in the spring and now we get a chance to see the #1 prospect in the organization and the Yankees' highest draft pick in 22 years. There hasn't been a lot to complain about since then but the one thing we have been deprived of as Yankee fans has been a batch of ubertalented prospects on the precipice of arriving to the bigs. Though Kaprielian, Judge and especially Mateo are a ways away from arriving in the Bronx it'll be fun to see how these guys compete in a big league clubhouse against the quasi-major league talent that the grapefruit league has to offer.
The path to the bigs is far more expeditious for Judge and Kaprielian than it is for Mateo. Although the 20-year-old shortstop drew comparisons to Jose Reyes last year by swiping 82 bags in 117 games across single-A Charleston and high-A Tampa, the combination of his inexperience and the current state of the big league middle infield is going to keep Mateo in the minor leagues for at least another couple of years.
On the other hand, Aaron Judge may be an injury and a strong start in Scranton away from landing in the Bronx in 2016. The Yankees' contingency plan should there be an injury to Gardner, Ellsbury or Beltran is probably to start Aaron Hicks but who knows if he can handle that. Dustin Ackley probably would get exposed in an everyday role, especially playing corner outfield. It won't be difficult to open up a 40-man spot for Judge but he has to come out of the gate better than he ended last season. After mashing at Trenton he really struggled upon being promoted to AAA, hitting .224 with 74 Ks in 260 plate appearances. You always worry about a player with his kind of raw talent and power hitting a wall once the pitching gets too good for him. Let's hope the early returns in March are positive.
Kaprielian may be the most realistic major league candidate of all the non-roster invitees this spring because of the Yankees' extremely thin starting pitching depth at the upper levels. What he has working against him is that Ivan Nova and Bryan Mitchell are going to get the first cracks at the long reliever/spot starter role. There's also the fact that Kaprielian is just 21 and only pitched 9 innings at short season Staten Island after being drafted last year. All indications are that his stuff was just as dominant at the Penn League as it was at UCLA so it shouldn't be a surprise if a start to 2016 in Trenton is short lived. Best case scenario would be a spot-start opportunity in the Bronx at some point later in the season.
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