New York Yankees top pitching prospect Justus Sheffield is proving why he’s the best on the farm with a strong start to 2017.

When the New York Yankees sent All-Star reliever Andrew Miller to the Cleveland Indians, they made sure they got their money’s worth.

That deal, which went down on July 31, 2016, brought in top outfield prospect Clint Frazier, righty J.P. Feyereisen, young flamethrowing prospect Ben Heller and New York’s top pitching prospect (by Baseball Prospectus) Justus Sheffield, who’s currently putting up the numbers to back that ranking.



Through three starts with the Double-A Trenton Thunder, the 20-year-old has only allowed three earned runs in 17.1 innings of work (1.56 ERA) while striking out 16. In his latest start against the Portland Sea Dogs of the Boston Red Sox organization, he struck out five over 5.2 innings of work before the Thunder bullpen blew a 5-2 lead in the ninth.

Sheffield’s best start so far was his only winning decision of the young season — a six strikeout performance against the Akron RubberDucks on April 13.