Bronx Bomber Ball

After a mediocre road trip and an off day, the Yankees will be back at home to face the rival Boston Red Sox in a three game series. The Yankees currently lead the season series 2-0. The Yankees sit in first place with a 32-22 record, going 5-5 in their last 10 games. The Red Sox, at 31-25, find themselves in second place and two games behind the Yankees, going 6-4 in their last 10 games.

The Baby Bombers got a taste of the big leagues last year, most notably Gary Sanchez took the league by storm. Another Baby Bomber to make their Major League debut was big man Aaron Judge, who infamously went back to back with Tyler Austin in their debut. Judge has come into Spring Training looking to lock up the starting right field job, but will be competing with Aaron Hicks in the process. Photo Credit: USA TODAY Sports

As a 26 year old minor leaguer, Kyle Higashioka had to put up a very good season in 2016 to get any kind of attention and he most certainly did that as he earned a 40-man roster spot during the offseason. While never really considered a top prospect, Higashioka has always had some upside. Sometimes all it takes is one breakout season to get yourself on the map. Photo Credit: Baseball America

After having another strong season in 2016, Miguel Andujar was added to the 40 man roster this past winter to protect him from the Rule 5 draft and for good reason too. With Chase Headley manning third base at the moment we might have to wait a while to see Andujar in the Majors, but at this rate it will be sooner rather than later. Photo Credit: Travis Guyton

Wilkerman Garcia was one of the Yankees’ top signings during their 2014 international free agent spree when they signed him out of Venezuela for a $1.35 million bonus. Another shortstop prospect, Garcia has the talent that can move him up the system quickly. Photo Credit: Chad Gusler

While Gleyber Torres and Justus Sheffield got all the attention in the Aroldis Chapman blockbuster trade this past summer, outfielder Billy McKinney was an interesting fourth piece. McKinney has finished as high as #88 on MLB.com’s prospect list and #85 on Baseball America’s top prospect list. Since his stock dropped significantly in 2016, the Yankees were able to buy low and roll the  dice. Photo Credit:  Gregg Slaboda   Breakdown: At 6’1” and 205 pounds, left handed outfielder Billy McKinney was the 24th  overall pick by the Oakland Athletics in 2013 out of Plano West Senior High School in Plano, Texas. A year later, McKinney was traded along with shortstop Addison Russell and pitcher Dan Straily to the Chicago Cubs for pitchers Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija. McKinney has put up some decent numbers over his minor league career, including his 2015 season when he batted .300 with seven home runs and 64 RBIs in 106 games across High A and Double ...

Drew Finley was drafted by the Yankees in the third round of the 2015 draft out of baseball powerhouse Rancho Bernando High School in Sand Diego after posting a 0.81 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 86 innings his senior year. The Yankees signed him relatively quickly for a $950,000 bonus that was well above the $626,000 slot recommendation. Keith Law and Baseball America ranked Finley as the 26th and 60th best prospect in the 2015 draft class, respectively, but his stock has fallen since then. Photo Credit: Griffin Stanley

Acquired from the Cleveland Indians in the Andrew Miller trade last summer, right0handed pitcher Ben Heller comes in at number 23 on the BBB top prospect list. We saw a little bit of Heller last season in the Bronx when he made his Major League debut near the end of August. Heller will come to Spring Training eying a spot in the Yankees’ 2017 bullpen. Photo Credit: MLB.com

Every season milestones are reached by many players and while some milestones are more significant than others, they’re all important to a baseball player’s career. With the departures of Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran, there aren’t many players on the Yankees roster reaching huge milestones, but there are still some milestones to be crossed. Here are some milestones Yankees players can pass in 2017, and I have projected the date they will reach them. Photo Credit: Chad Gusler

The 2016 Major League Baseball draft was considered by many to be a success for the Yankees. While the Yankees were able to pick up a lot of good draft prospects, the most attention was focused on the Yankees snatching up Blake Rutherford with the 18th  overall pick when Rutherford had top 10 potential. While the Yankees picked up a very good player in the first round, the Yankees were also able to pick up another good player in Nick Solak. Photo Credit: Austin Hart

The year 2016 was a very good year for Yankees prospects. Not only were top notch prospects acquired, but some prospects took the necessary step forward in their development to reach the Major Leagues. I want to take a closer look at one of those prospects in Dustin Fowler. Photo Credit: MiLB.com

Just last week, the Washington Nationals gave up a boat load of top prospects to acquire outfielder Adam Eaton from the Chicago White Sox. The Nationals gave up number one prospect Lucas Giolito, number three prospect Reynaldo Lopez and number six prospect Dane Dunning. While many around baseball thought that the Nationals gave up too much, the Yankees and their fans should rejoice because the trade made Brett Gardner’s value go way up. While Eaton has had a higher WAR than Gardner over the years, Gardner does have an All-Star nod and a gold glove to boot, something Eaton doesn’t have. Because the Nationals gave up their number one, three and six prospects, I decided to do some unrealistic hypotheticals and took the number one, three and six prospects from teams that might line up for a Gardner trade. Still, it is important to note that Gardner is not likely to get the same return that Eaton received, but here's what some trades could look like if he did, just for kicks. (E...

When the Yankees decided to sell and traded Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs, the biggest name everyone liked to talk about in the return was Gleyber Torres. While his name is definitely worth mentioning as the headliner, another name worth digging into from the trade is outfielder Billy McKinney. Photo Credit: Martin Griff | Pinstriped Prospects

With the upcoming Rule 5 draft just a few weeks away the Yankees had to make some decisions on which Rule 5 eligible players should be protected. The Yankees eventually decided to protect shortstop Jorge Mateo, third baseman Miguel Andujar, and pitchers Dietrich Enns, Giovanny Gallegos, Ronald Herrera and Yefrey Ramirez. Because of their healthy minor league system, the Yankees were going to have to leave some of their prospects unprotected and exposed to the Rule 5 draft, thus the penalty for having a good farm system. Photo Credit:  AP Photo/Chris O’Meara

The 2016 season was the year of the prospects for the Yankees as they have soared from the middle of the pack to the top spot in most farm system lists. Most of the newly acquired prospects highlighted were either acquired in blockbuster trades (Gleyber Torres, Clint Frazier, Dillon Tate) or high in the draft (Blake Rutherford, Nick Solak). One overlooked prospect that is actually making a name for himself is right handed pitcher Taylor Widener. Widener, who turned 22 on October 24, was selected by the Yankees in the 12th round of this year’s draft out of the University of South Carolina and dominated in the Yankees lower minor league levels. Photo courtesy of Pinstriped Prospects

With the 2016 World Series upon us I have put some thought into whom I would vote for to win the major awards if I was the baseball writers who are fortunate enough to vote. Because the baseball writers submit their top ten players for MVP, five for Cy Young and top three for Rookie of the Year/Manager of the Year I will be doing the same. I am also not including playoffs when it comes to my decisions just like the actual baseball writers. All of this is strictly based on opinion and would love to hear other people’s opinions as well. Since this is a Yankees blog I have also added my vote for the team awards as well. Photo Credit: Joe Nicholson | USA TODAY Sports

With the season winding down and the Yankees playoff hope slimming by the day, some 40-man roster spot decisions will have to be made in the near future. While some roster spots will open up because of impending free agents and retirements (Mark Teixeira, Billy Butler, etc.), some roster spots will be needed to protect players from the Rule 5 Draft (Tyler Webb, Kyle Hishioga, etc.). Because of these moves some roster spots may be up in the air this offseason, let’s take a look at some players whose 40-man roster spots may be in limbo. Photo Credit: Kim Klement

The Blue Jays got on the board quickly in the first inning when Edwin Encarnacion deposited a Luis Cessa pitch into the left field seats for a solo home run to put the Jays up 1-0. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Brian McCann launched a solo shot of his own into the right field stands, his first since August 19 th , to tie the game up at one a piece. The tie didn’t last long as Kevin Pillar scored on a broken bat single by Jose Bautista in the top of the fifth to retake the lead, 2-1. Things were looking bleak for Yankees fans before Tyler Austin hit a two-run moonshot into the right field bleachers, making it 3-2, Bombers. The lead didn’t last long, however as the Yankees bullpen did what they did best and gave the lead back on a two run double by Kevin Pillar in the top of the eighth to give the Jays the lead once again at 4-3. But again, the lead changed in the bottom of the eighth when Didi Gregorius laced a RBI triple just out of the reach of Pillar and later scored on a sa...

The Yankees opened the scoring in the first inning when Gary Sanchez, as predicted,  launched a solo bomb into the second deck for his ninth home run in his first 21 games, marking another Yankee record. In the bottom of the first inning Tanaka had a clean one-two-three inning after Aaron Judge threw out former Yankee Robinson Cano out trying to leg out a double to end the frame. Photo Credit: Getty Images

In the wake of Alex Rodriguez’s press conference, the Yankees were able to capitalize on key hits and another stellar performance from Masahiro Tanaka. The bullpen was also able to shut things down and the Yankees win the season series over Cleveland 5-2 Photo Credit: Kathy Kmonicek | AP