We already saw what Baseball America thought about the Yankees’ top shortstop prospects Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza.
Baseball Prospectus, releasing their Top 101 prospects before the 2022 season, also believes these two can be special.
Volpe was No. 15 on the list, while Peraza came in at No. 61.
Volpe hasn’t gotten past High-A ball just yet, but his numbers in 2021 were very impressive to the point where he has a great chance to start the year in Double-A. The New Jersey native slashed .294/.423/.604 with 27 homers, 35 doubles, and 86 RBI between the two levels of A-ball and an OPS of 1.027 is going to always turn heads.
As for Peraza, he had a cup of coffee with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre but spent most of his time with Double-A Somerset in 2021. He hit well, going .295/.348/.466 with 16 doubles, 12 homers, and 40 RBI over 79 games with the Patriots.
But those two weren’t the only ones who made the cut here. Baseball Prospectus also likes RHP Randy Vasquez, as he is on the bottom tier of the list at No. 90.
Vasquez pitched at three levels last year, accumulating an impressive 2.52 ERA over 23 games and 107.1 innings. Most of that came with the Tampa Tarpons, where he had a 2.34 ERA with 58 strikeouts to 23 walks.
His calling card is his curve, which sits around 78-80 mph and has a ton of break. The spin rate for it is around 3100 rpm, which is what you want for a tight spin that leads to late movement.
With his fastball jumping up to 93-94 mph and a changeup that has potential, Vasquez’s repertoire continues to improve.