Yankees prospect profile: Rob Refsnyder

By: Josh Sabo | Minor League Writer

Robert Refsnyder, 2B:

Rob Refsnyder was the Yankees 5th round pick in 2012. He was technically drafted as an outfielder but the Yankees always intended to move him to second. His stock has really taken off as a second baseman. The team will soon need a good long term second baseman, and as of now Refsnyder is looking like he can become that player. He will begin the 2014 season in Double-A.

Vital Statistics:

Born:   March 26, 1991
B-T: L-R.
Ht.: 6-2 
Wt.: 195
Drafted: University of Arizon, 2012 (5th round).
2012 A-ball stats( 46 GMs): BA/OBP/SLG/WOBA/WRC+                       .241/.319/.364/.319/91
2013 A-ball stats(13 GMs)                                                                           .370/.452/.481/.434/173
2013 Hi-A stats(117 GMS)                                                                          .283/.408/.404/.384/140  

Background:

Refsnyder was born in South Korea, but was adopted when he was three months old. His adopted parents raised him in California, where he attended Laguna Hills High. Refsnyder was actually high school teammates with Royals lefty John Lamb, but was no where near as good of a prospect..
Refsnyder wasn't even drafted coming out high school, and really only bloomed as a prospect once he got into college.

With that said he really came into his own in college where he never had an OPS under .800 and had an OPS of 1.000 in his junior year. Rob was a key part of Arizona's, College World Series run. He ended up with the MVP of the College WS, and signed with the Yankees soon after.

Refsnyder's college coaches all seemed to be very high on Refsnyder and his coach was quoted as saying that his outfielder has "the aptitude to hit,”... “he has good bat speed; he’s just a good hitter".  Scouts agreed that he could hit but questioned if he had enough power to be a corner outfielder.

A lot of scouts wanted Refsnyder to field groundballs as an infielder, but he did not feel that was fair to his teammates. In an interview with Chad Jennings, Refsnyder said that he that he felt it would be disrespectful to the teams current secondbaseman if he took grounders at the position. He apparently knew his refusal to take grounder would hurt his draft stock, but was willing to put his team first.

This means that the Yankees took a bit of risk, as they had no way of knowing how he would look at secondbase. So far the risk has paid off as he dominated minor league ball last year, and looks like he can make the majors pretty soon.

2013 Performance:

His 2013 performance was both good and bad. He showed that he has a good bat for second, and a decent amount of pop, but he was very shaky on defense. This isn't entirely surprising, as he hadn't played the position since high school, but it is still a reason for concern. It probably is one of the reasons that he was ranked higher on prospect lists, including my own. If he gets his defense down, he will shoot up the organization's prospect ladder.

He may never be a Robinson Cano type player, but he may become a solid regular. His performance last year allowed him to pass two levels and now he may only be a year away from the majors.He really excelled on offense, especially when you consider he played in two pitcher friendly parks. His power numbers were actually a better on the road, not that he will need much power anyway.

Scouting Report:

He has decent pop, which comes in the form of doubles, and he has a good hit tool.Refsnyder is a line-drive hitter who uses the entire field.  But the best part of his hit tool is his ability to get on-base. Last season he had 8 more walks than strikeouts. His 84 walks last season wasn't a fluke as he has a good eye at the plate.

Refsnyder's biggest weakness is his defense. Though it is more of question-mark than a weakness. After all he hasn't played second since high school. But many people believe that his defense will improve or is improving. Jim Callis, from MLB.com wrote that Refsnyder is a prospect "who's  making strides at his new position". He also tweeted the following comment about Refsnyder at second: He "started slow there, nice improvements 2nd half last yr, can be adeq to avg. . Additionally Baseball America and others feel that he can be a decent defender at second.

Projections:

Refsnyder is projected to be major league ready by 2016, and could very well be the Yankees starting second baseman by that time. Refsnyder doesn't project to have the highest ceiling, or even be an all-star, but he has talent. He could probably hit about 10 homerun a year, and would be able to get on-base at a good clip. I believe he'll become an average defender, which probably means his projections is along the line of a Freddy Sanchez type player.It's really hard to tell what type of player he will become until he plays in AA, and gets more experience at second.

2014 Level:

Refsnyder is going to begin the 2014 season in Trenton(AA), and probably spend some time there. Even if he shows he is ready for a promotion, the Yankees have a lot of infielders in AAA that will need time at second. The team has a logjam of infielders in AAA, and while most of those players aren't all that great they need to play. For instance players like Scott Sizemore and Jose Pirela, have to play in order to compete for a job on the Yankees. However, he will probably end up playing half of the season at AAA.

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Spring Training position battles: Second base

I never thought I would have to say this, but the Yankees will be holding auditions this spring to find a starting baseman for the first time in a long time. Sadly, the list of candidates are not great, and if it hasn't already sunk in, we're not going to see anyone putting up Robinson Cano-type numbers at second base this season.

Unless the Yankees add another infielder, via a sign or trade, they'll come into camp with five players that I see have the best chances to win the job.

Right now, those five players are Brian Roberts, Kelly Johnson, Dean Anna, Corban Joseph and Scott Sizemore, with Roberts being the favorite.

A lot like the battle for the fifth starter job, you would think that whoever wins the job is playing well enough to keep it once the season gets going. But even though I think that Roberts will be the second base job, that doesn't mean he will go unchallenged.

It probably won't be from Johnson, who is expected to handle most of the third base duties for the Yankees this season. Joseph is still young, and has room to grow. He can be a decent second baseman down the road, but he's better off in the minors to start the year. And though Sizemore is capable of playing the position, I think that most of his spring will be spent at third base, too.

Anna, though, is the real sleeper in all of this. He is the player that you'll want to watch for this spring.

Why Anna? The 26-year-old spent last season with Triple-A Tucson in the Padres organization, where he hit .331 with 90 runs, 38 doubles, 9 homeruns and 73 RBIs in 132 games. He saw time at second base, shortstop, third base and in left field.

Being an above-average left-handed hitter with the ability to play around the diamond gives him a very good chance to make the Yankees' 25-man roster out of Spring Training.

When making the case for Roberts, you can count the fact that he's a former all-star second baseman. If he can just stay healthy -- and that is a major "if" -than he can be pretty good player for the Yankees, both in the field and at the plate. But I wouldn't get my hopes up over a guy that has barely seen the field in the last three years.

We could also have situation in which both Roberts and Anna are on the team, splitting time at second base. That is a situation that could help Roberts stay healthy. Actually, any situation where Roberts doesn't have to be in the lineup everyday is probably good for him.

Either way, no matter how you see things, this will certainly be one of the most interesting out of the five position battles to watch this spring. Life without Cano officially begins next week when the full squad starts practicing.


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Gavin Ewbank is the Lead Writer of Yanks Beat Blog, and you can follow him on Twitter (HERE).

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Organazational Depth: Second Base

After the departure of Robinson Cano, the Yankees decided to try to find a new second-baseman off of the scrap heap. While Brian Roberts and Scott Sizemore aren't bad options, their injury riddled past may mean that the Yankees will need to make a trade or call-up one of their own prospects to man the position.

Major League Ready:

Corban Joseph highlights this rather thin section. Joseph has a big chance to replace Cano, as he is the type of hitter that the Yankees like. He has great at-bats and has some power. In his last full season in AAA he had a WRC+ of 134. But he was much more average in 47 games last year, and he looked over-matched in his short stay in the majors.

Defensively Joseph is a decent fielder, but can be error-prone. Joseph doesn't have the type of range to be a utility player, which may put him at a disadvantage when compared to the Yankees other upper level second-base prospects.

Two players that can serve as utility players are Jose Peirella and Adonis Garcia. Pirela is the bigger prospect of the two, and the Yankees seem to believe in his ability to play in the majors.

Pirela has spent the majority of the last three seasons in AA, this was mostly due to the presence of Corban Joseph and David Adams in AAA. Overall Pirela has done well in AA and had an OPS of .777 last season at that level.

After the season Pirela went on to play in winter league and dominated. While he still doesn't show much power, he really has improved as a hitter in the past few seasons.Defensively he is decent  at second, and can also play shortstop, third-base and the outfield. 

In a recent interview Mark Newman spoke highly of the young second-baseman progress and his winter league numbers, stating  “He’s still just 23 (actually, 24). He’s been around or a while, but he’s not old. … He’s really made strides in the last couple of years. He’s really improving offensively he’s really made a lot of progress.”.

Pirela earned himself an invitation to spring training, and actually has a chance to win a starting gig if he gets over his history of slow starts.Considering that he will be just 24 years old next season he should still be looked at as a prospect.

The same can not be said for Adonis Garcia, as he is already 28 years old. However, the Cuban expat can still be a useful piece for the 2014 Yankees. That's because he is so versatile. Garcia can play the outfield, second and third.

Garcia and Pirela were both invited to spring training where they will be able to show the Yankees whether or not they can handle playing in the majors.

Depth Below AA:

Robert Refsynder quietly may of had the best offensive season of any Yankee minor league player last season. The lack of attention is surprising considering he was only 22 last season.

Refsnyder showed great on-base skills last season and showed good power with 41 extra-base hits. The biggest weakness in his game was his defense, but considering he used to be an outfielder until he was drafted it isn't really a big deal. Refsnyder defense will improve as he gets more playing time at the position.

Refsnyder will begin the season in AA and if he continues to perform well he may have a shot at a late season promotion. This would be an aggressive approach but some prospects are capable of skipping AAA.Refsnyder may have the highest floor of any Yankee prospect.

Angelo Gumbs, and Gosuke Katoh are the two second-basemen in the system, with highest ceilings. Gumbs ceiling would make him a top ten Yankee prospect but he has struggled in recent years.

Some of these struggles are related to injuries as he was hurt for a bit over the past two seasons. But his failures go beyond his injuries as he hasn't taken advantage of his raw ability. This was the reason that he was sent down to repeat A-Ball last season.

Gumbs has too much ability to stay in A-Ball for three seasons, so the Yankees will have to push him back to High-A. This will be complicated as Anderson Feliz will also need playing time at that level and there is no open DH spot on the team.

Gumbs has a higher ceiling than Feliz and some of the players that would be playing DH, so it would make sense for him to get the most playing time. Gumbs is known for his excellent bat speed; it is one of the first things scouts mention when they watch him play. His bat speed  is the reason so many think he has so much offensive potential.

But Gumbs is more than just a bat, he also has plus speed, and has shown potential on defense. He has a plus arm and solid range. If Gumbs puts all these tools together he can become an elite player, he is still just 21 so he has time to reach his potential.

Hopefully he has a better and healthier season in 2014, as he could have a major impact on the Yankees in a couple of years if he doesn't bust.

Kotah, who Baseball America ranked as the systems tenth best prospect, may not have Gumbs upside but he is currently a borderline top ten second base prospect.

Kotah dominated the GCl hitting,  310/.402/.522. People expected him to be able to hit, but his power was truly surprising.Kotah is already a good runner and excellent defender so even if his power isn't real he would remain a good prospect.

If he can keep that up as he advances through the system, he should be a top 100 prospect despite his position.

Sleepers:

Anderson Feliz is one of New York's toolsiest players, and he might be the systems best switch hitter. Feliz's struggles in the past two years are related to several injuries. He has only been able to play 36 games last season and only 45 games in 2012.

Because of this Feliz has never really had a chance to put up the type of statistical season he is capable of. However fans shouldn't give up on him yet, as he has above average power, and could hit for a decent average.

It is unclear where Feliz will begin the 2014 season, as he and Gumbs would benefit from starting the year at High-A. Because of the logjam at third and first, the DH position will always be filled by a decent prospect. This means that Gumbs or Feliz can only get playing time at second.

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