Previously I posted a look at the Yankees “All-Prospect Team”. I have decided to a little more in depth and include scouting reports, projections, and reasons for why I placed them on the team. Today we look at the starting lineup:

Lineup:
1. R Austin Jackson (22) CF: Austin Jackson is the Yankees top prospect. He’s young, athletic, and has a good mix of all 5 tools. He will start the year in Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre, and will most likely join the major league club later in the year. Expect him to be the Yankees CF for years to come after that call-up.

2. S Melky Cabrera (24) RF: This ranking was not actually because I truly believed that Melky Cabrera is going to play RF for the Yankees in the future, far from it. I simply put him here because he is the Yankees third best outfield prospect and this is where he fit in. Unless he beats out Brett Gardner (see below) for centerfield this year, the “Melk-man” will most likely be used as trade bait.

3. R Jorge Vazquez (27) 1B: I’m not going to go too in-depth with Vazquez because I’ve already written a bit about him right here. The main stuff to know about him (if you’re too lazy to just click the link) is that he’s a power-hitting first basemen that the Yankees signed out of the Mexican league and he’s been tearing up the Yankees winter leagues. However, with the recent long-term signing of Mark Teixeira, he probably won’t get very much playing time in the future. Still, he fits this list.

4. R Jesus Montero (19) DH: Montero is the Yankees’ second-best prospect and probably their best-hitting one. He absolutely killed Class-A pitching last year when he hit .326! However, his body isn’t fit for behind the plate and most people see a position change in the future, most likely to first base. However, since Vazquez is already occupying that position, I decided to put him at DH (where he actually may wind up in the future). You can expect big stuff out of this kid, who has already reached the Bronx despite being in single-A (he played in the futures game at Yankee stadium in 2008) and will probably return in the future.

5. L Robinson Cano (25) 2B: Cano doesn’t really need any introduction. He’s been in the major leagues for three years already. After hitting .322 in 2006 and .306 in ’07, he “only” hit .271 in 2008. I put the “only” in quotes like that because .271 is still pretty good. In fact, I was recently reading “Moneyball” by Michael Lewis (a book a strongly recommend for all you baseball fans out there) and it talked about the difference between a .270 hitter, and a .300 hitter. Do you know what it is? It’s .3 of a hit per nine at-bats. That is almost nothing! And yet we continue to rank .300 hitters way higher than their .270 counter-parts. But back to Cano, the only reasons he’s getting bashed so much, is how it’s less than his previous seasons, and because of his very slow start at the beginning of the year. I fully expect a bounce-back season from him.

6. R Austin Romine (20) C: Romine got put on this list because he’s the Yankees top catching prospect behind Jesus Montero. However, Romine is a much better defensive catcher than Montero and thus gets the nod behind the plate. In fact, his defense is his best attribute. His time to second base ranges between 1.78 and 1.85 seconds which, on a scale of 1-10, puts him at about a 9.5! If you put that with an decent, non-power bat, you got yourself a catcher.

7. L Eric Duncan (24) 3B: After being drafted by the Yankees in the first round a while back, Duncan has yet to really do anything. He’s risen through the Yankees system, but has found himself stuck at Triple-A for some time now. The Yankees are also implementing a position-change to first base due to the long-term contract of 3B Alex Rodriguez. However, for this lineup, Duncan remains at third.

8. L Ramiro Pena (23) SS: One of the major concerns that Yankee fans have had recently, is “who will replace Derek Jeter?” Because, lets face it, Jeter’s not going to be around forever. Well unfortunately, the list is pretty thin. The Yankees actually don’t have any very good prospects at short but this guy heads the list (if there even is one) of them. Pena offers a big switch from Jeter as Ramiro’s an amazing defender but his bat is lacking. Jeter’s pretty much the opposite. Expect the Yankees to make a move for a short stop and use this guy as a utility guy in the future.

9. L Brett Gardner (25) LF: People have doubted Gardner’s ability lately. They think that he’s doesn’t have a good enough bat to play CF. Well that’s where they’re wrong. Gardner’s actually got an average bat for a center fielder, with his projected .270 BA falling right into the norm. He also has an un-teachable trait that is very, very valuable for all Yankee players: clutch. After notching only 142 ABs last year, Gardner actually had two walk-off hits! That’s more than Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter had combined! Not to mention he’s one of the fastest guys in the major leagues. Expect him to be in the Yankees outfield for years to come.

Tune in later for the starting rotation…