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Jan 11, 2024

Yankees top pitching prospects turning heads

Yankees pitching prospects (clockwise from top left) Drew Thorpe, Chase Hampton

Yankees pitching prospects (clockwise from top left) Drew Thorpe, Chase Hampton and Zach Messinger are shining in High-A Hudson Valley this season.Dave Janosz, Hudson Valley Renegades

WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. — The Yankees may have slashed a significant portion of their pitching depth in the upper levels of their farm system at the trade deadline last summer, but there's no shortage of high-quality starters in High-A Hudson Valley.

Right-handers Drew Thorpe, Zach Messinger, Chase Hampton and Juan Carela are all turning heads with the Renegades this year, each posting an ERA under 4.00 through the first two months of the season. All four arms rank among the top 30 prospects within the organization, per MLB Pipeline.

Take this week's series against High-A Aberdeen at Heritage Financial Park. Both Messinger and Carela spun gems on Thursday and Friday, both setting new career-highs in the strikeout department. Next up are Thorpe and Hampton, the big-name hurlers from last year's draft that are kicking off their minor-league careers with a bang.

Here are fresh scouting reports on all of these starters, courtesy of Hudson Valley's manager Sergio Santos and pitching coach Preston Claiborne.

DREW THORPE, RHP

Age: 22

Size: 6-4, 190

Acquired: 2022 Draft, 2nd Round out of Cal Poly

Yankees prospect ranking: No. 6, MLB Pipeline

2023 stats: 3-1, 3.92 ERA, 8 GS, 43 2/3 IP, 52 K, 42 H, 18 BB, 4 HR

The skinny: Thorpe made his professional debut this spring, skipping ahead to High-A Hudson Valley. The right-hander had a 2.86 ERA in April, allowing only seven earned runs in four starts (22 innings). He ran into more trouble in May, posting a 4.98 ERA in four starts (21 2/3 innings). That number is inflated by a six-run clunker against Wilmington. His best start of the year came two outings later when Thorpe twirled 6 1/3 scoreless against Brooklyn with eight strikeouts and only five hits allowed.

Santos’ scouting report: "What's not to like? His mound presence is elite. He's one of those guys where you literally cannot tell if he struck out the side or gave up 10 runs. He's got such a good changeup. To me, a great changeup is the best pitch in baseball. It's one where you can go deep in games just by having that one pitch on. Every time he takes the mound, even if he doesn't have it that day, he's going to find a way to get through five or six."

Claiborne's scouting report: "He's very soft spoken, but he's a monster competitor. On the pitching side, he's got such a unique slot and feel for five different pitches. He came in with a devastating slider already from college and that pitch has only gotten a little bit better. He's throwing a little bit harder now too than he was, which is awesome to see. And then he's got an electric changeup, a very unique changeup that deviates from the expected movement path that we normally see. He doesn't have that Cole Hamels or Pedro Martinez diving changeup. He's got more of a John Means changeup. It honestly comes out of his hand like a cotton ball … It goes against a lot of the models. That's why he's able to use it against right-handed and left-handed batters."

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ZACH MESSINGER, RHP

Age: 23

Size: 6-6, 225

Acquired: 2021 Draft, 13th Round out of Virginia

Yankees prospect ranking: No. 22, MLB Pipeline

2023 stats: 0-3, 2.78 ERA, 9 GS, 45 1/3 IP, 55 K, 39 H, 22 BB, 2 HR

The skinny: Messinger spent the entirety of the 2022 season with Low-A Tampa, posting a 4.30 ERA over 31 games (16 starts). He's improved across the board in the Renegades’ rotation to begin the 2023 season. On Thursday, Messinger struck out a career-high nine batters over five innings, taking the loss while giving up one unearned run against Aberdeen. Like Thorpe, Messinger had a spectacular April (2.14 ERA in four starts) before taking a slight step back in May (4.19 ERA in four starts). All told, Messinger has allowed one earned run or fewer in six of his nine starts so far this season.

Santos’ scouting report: "I always tell Messinger, he seems like he's 35 for his age. He's very professional, very mature. He has a really good idea of what his plan is, comes in super prepared for all the meetings we do. He does his own homework. He's one of those guys where even if he doesn't have it that day, you couldn't see it in his reaction or his mound presence. He finds a way to figure it out and get outs."

Claiborne's scouting report: "He's the professor. We do hardly any game planning. We just keep the guardrails on, but he does all his own preparation. He knows exactly how he wants to attack and put guys away. And then he goes out and executes that plan. The thing that makes him special is he has reasons for everything. If there's a time where he needs to deviate, he will on the fly and there's no panic. He has a super high aptitude and he's as polished as they come. The reasons that he has for why he wants to attack hitters a certain way are awesome, that's exactly what you expect to see out of a big-league starter."

CHASE HAMPTON, RHP

Age: 21

Size: 6-2, 225

Acquired: 2022 Draft, 6th Round out of Texas Tech

Yankees prospect ranking: No. 24, MLB Pipeline

2023 stats: 1-1, 3.15 ERA, 7 GS, 34 1/3 IP, 59 K, 27 H, 13 BB, 5 HR

The skinny: Since giving up five earned runs on April 25 in Greenville, Hampton has pitched to the tune of a 2.18 ERA in four starts. That's five earned runs in 20 2/3 innings. The right-hander also skipped Low-A, heading straight to Hudson Valley where he's impressed, giving up less than three runs in six of his seven appearances. With 59 strikeouts in just seven games, Hampton has the highest strikeout-per-nine ratio (15.47) of any pitcher in the South Atlantic League that's faced more than 87 batters (Hampton has pitched against 146 hitters so far).

Santos’ scouting report: "His stuff is just nasty. It absolutely plays. He's got a plus fastball, he's got a plus whirly, he has great swing and miss stuff. So when you have a guy like that, it's just a matter of innings and experience for him before he's moved up … He's the type of guy that when you see his stuff, you’re sitting there going, ‘man, how does he ever get hit?’ His stuff is just as good as any big-league guy. Like I said, it's just a matter of innings and experience until he toes the slab in the big leagues one day."

Claiborne's scouting report: "Pure electricity. He knows how to spin the ball, ultra-competitor. Props to him for putting on weight this offseason, taking his solid program from the strength and conditioning department and running with it. Big time accountability because he wants to be the guy. He's definitely got that potential. He showed up to camp this spring and was throwing three, four miles per hour harder, just absolutely pounding the strike zone."

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JUAN CARELA, RHP

Age: 21

Size: 6-3, 186

Acquired: Signed in 2018 from Dominican Republic

Yankees prospect ranking: No. 29, MLB Pipeline

2023 stats: 2-2, 3.09 ERA, 9 G, 8 GS, 43 2/3 IP, 52 K, 32 H, 17 BB, 2 HR

The skinny: Carela was spectacular on Friday night, setting a new career-high with seven innings and 10 strikeouts against Aberdeen. The only run he allowed was an inside the park home run on a sinking line drive that got by the right fielder. Eight of Carela's 15 earned runs allowed this season came in one game — he's given up two earned runs or fewer in the rest of his nine outings in 2023.

Carela is the most experienced pitcher of the bunch, a right-hander in his fourth professional campaign. He's steadily improved since his debut season in rookie ball back in 2019, consistently taking steps forward each spring after testing the waters of a new level the previous fall. For instance, Carela had an 11.51 ERA with Low-A Tampa at the end of the 2021 season. He started the next year with a 2.96 ERA in 16 outings with the Tarpons before a promotion to Hudson Valley, where he struggled to finish the season. Now, he's putting together the best year of his career to this point.

Santos: "Makes my job easy [having such a loaded starting rotation]. Truly blessed to have these guys on my staff. They’re very talented, but what makes them special in my eyes is that all of them are coming every day to get better. They’re not letting one day go by where they didn't get better at their craft. They come in, they prepare, they work hard."

Claiborne: "Our starters are so awesome. The three Latin boys, Carela, [Joel] Valdez and [Tyrone] Yulie, they’re all so supportive of each other, being with each other for bullpens, pregame warmups. The good thing is we’ve got such highly-touted prospects in Hampton and Thorpe, but they’re still asking Carela and Messinger and guys that have been in the organization questions on how they approach hitters, what do they see. They’re all learning from each other. That's as organic as it gets without any direction."

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