Despite being left out of the Top-10, New York Yankees outfield prospect Estevan Florial is justifying why he’s expected to rise into the spotlight very soon.
Signed by the New York Yankees as an international free agent on March 19, 2015, out of the Dominican Republic with a $200,000 signing bonus, outfielder Estevan Florial has enjoyed a hot start to his professional career and in 2017, he is taking it to a whole new level.
In 52 games with the Single-A Charleston Riverdogs, the 19-year-old owns a .289/.364/.473 slash line with 13 doubles, three triples and six home runs. Florial is also showing off the wheels with nine stolen bases in 12 attempts.
Known as a hitter that contains some pop to all fields, Florial has already totaled more extra-base hits (22) than he did in 2016 (20) despite owning 63 fewer at-bats. Many scouts assumed the odds of him earning a trip to High-A Tampa was a long-shot, but what he has done over the last two weeks should be opening some eyes.
Since May 20, Florial, who is often regarded as one of the most gifted talents in the Yankees’ farm system, has gone 22-for-60 (.367) with two home runs and nine RBIs in 15 games. He has reached base in all but two of them and put together multi-hit efforts in seven — the latest coming on June 4 against the Greenville Drive, where he went 3-for-4 with a walk, RBI and run scored.
Defensively, Florial is also demonstrating why the organization is so excited about him. He has played in 397.1 innings in the outfield (267.0 in center) and has not made a single error while registering five assists in 45 starts. Scouts rave about not only Florial’s range but his strong throwing arm as well.
Whoever follows prospects closely could tell you this youngster has the potential to become a special player and we’re now seeing the rise. There is plenty of work left to do in the development process and deciphering whether he’ll fit in the long-term picture must be assessed down the road, but he is nonetheless thriving in Charleston.
