Led by James Kaprielian and Greg Bird, New York Yankees’ prospects have been tearing it up early on in the Arizona Fall League.
Last season, the New York Yankees were without promising first baseman Greg Bird and their 2015 first-round pick, James Kaprielian, to season-ending injuries.
Now, over a year since Bird’sshoulder injury and six months since Kaprielian’s elbow injury, they are back in action in the Arizona Fall League in hopes to complete their comebacks.
So far, they have been terrific.
Bird saw live game action for the first time and went 1-for-4 with a RBI double and a walk on Tuesday night. Then, on Wednesday, he went 2-for-4 with two doubles, a RBI, and a run scored.
During his brief stint in the Bronx during the 2015 regular season, Bird smashed 11 home runs and drove in 31 runs in just 46 games. Over a 162-game span, that’s 38 homers and 109 RBI.
Overall, Yankees’ prospects went 5-for-15 with four runs scored and even registered a home run when Gleyber Torres went yard in the fourth inning off Artie Lewicki.
Also on Wednesday night, Kaprielian went three scoreless innings with one hit, no walks, and six strikeouts on Wednesday.
The Yankees’ top pitching prospect’s fastball sat in the 95-97 mile an hour range while mixing in changeups that were thrown in the mid-upper 80’s.
In seven career minor league games in the New York-Penn League, Gulf Coast League, and in Class-A Tampa, Kaprielian owns a 1.55 ERA and an 11.2 K/9 ratio.
Follow everything about the Arizona Fall League by visiting their website or tuning into ESNY where we will make sure to update everything going on with New York’s prized prospects.
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Christian Kouroupakis covers the New York Yankees for ESNY. Interact with him and view his daily work by “liking” his facebook page and follow him on Twitter. All statistics are courtesy of Baseball Reference.com unless otherwise noted. Don’t hesitate to shoot him an email with any questions, criticisms, or concerns.
