Bridgewater, NJ--The Somerset Patriots will open their season on Friday, April 7th. As the season is about to start, the Patriots unveil a facelift to their new scoreboard. A new scoreboard is not the only new for the Patriots this season as the defending Eastern League Champions debut the new skipper in town, Raul Dominguez. The skip is excited to begin his season as the Patriot's manager. The Panama native, has been with the Yankees organization for 17 seasons. The last two seasons he was the defensive coach for the Yankees Triple-A affiliate, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (2021,2022), he served as defensive coach for Trenton (2018, 2019), and Tampa (2017). When Dominguez played, he was an outfielder and signed by the Yankees as a free agent in 2001. He played four minor league years and began coaching in 2008. Dominguez has big shoes to fill as he succeeds Dan Fiorito, the 2022 Eastern League Manager of the Year.
Top Pitching MLB Prospects
The Somerset Rotation is set for the first three games to open up the 2023 season. Here are your top three set to debut this weekend.
RHP Richard Fitts - Yankees No. 10 Prospect and third ranked pitcher will be your opening day starter. He pitched in Tampa and Hudson making 22 starts with a 3.70 ERA and 131 strikeouts. On media day, he talked about building rapport with the catchers during spring training. He answered questions about Anthony Volpe playing in the big leagues. His very first outing he faced Volpe, which he said was tough. He and the team are super excited to see him have success at the big league level.
RHP Clayton Beeter - Yankees No. 15 Prospect, and sixth ranked pitcher, Beeter, received in exchange for Gallo, had a good year at Somerset last year: as he struck out 41 batters and allowed only six earned runs in 25 1/3 innings. His best pitch is his 98 mph fastball and is adding a change-up a new pitch. Beeter stated that pitching at spring training was awesome and he can't wait to do it again "in the Bronx."
RHP Will Warren - Yankees No. 9 Prospect, and second ranked pitcher. Warren worked his way up to Double-A since he was drafted from LSU in 2021. He split some time between Hudson and Somerset. His 2022 Somerset stats were 83 strikeouts and a 4.02 ERA in 94 innings. His slider is his best pitch, along with his fastball which tops out at 97-98. He talked with the media on Wednesday about throwing on the pinstripes during spring training, "that's where we all want to be" striving to keep pushing up the latter. He was the recipient of the 2022 Kevin Lawn Award for Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
Position Players:
Returning players to the Somerset roster include seven of New York's top 20 prospects. A few were invited to spring training camp this past spring. Below are players that sat with the media on Wednesday and Thursday.
OF Jasson Dominguez is the youngest of the bunch at 20 years old and is the #2 Yankees' Top prospects after Volpe. "The Martian", met with the media on Thursday and talked about his first experience at camp. Dominguez said he enjoyed watching the veterans' daily routine and learning from all of them. His decisions at the plate is what has helped him a ton with his improvement in 2022 and he continued his streak through spring training. His spring splits of .455/.520/1.046 and 1.566 OPS over 26 plate appearances are encouraging signs for the future. Along with Warren, Dominguez was named the recipient of the 2022 Kevin Lawn Award for Minor League Position Player of the Year.
SS Trey Sweeney is 23 year old and is the 6th ranked prospect. He was selected by the Yankees in first round of 2021 draft and was invited to spring training, where spent some time with the big leaguers at camp. His spring slash-line of .333/.500/.778 1.278 OPS over 12 plate appearances is something that should help him in the 2023 season. Sweeney talked about his improvements this offseason, with swing decisions and making contact. He has excellent at bats and makes great contact. Volpe getting called up and how the team were all very happy for him, "he's earned every bit of it".
C Anthony Siegler is a 23-year old switch hitting catcher who was selected by the Yankees in the 2018 Player Draft. He has been with the Yankees organization for four seasons now. His spring stats were a .250 batting average and .539 OBP., scoring twice and driving in a run. He split the 2022 season between Single-A Tampa and High-A Hudson Valley, in which he hit .236 with 74 hits, seven home runs, 45 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. Siegler talked about this offseason about working on off-speed pitches and hitting them earlier in the count. He says he plans on doing more damage at the plate this year.
Injury notes: C Austin Wells is the fourth ranked prospect and was a non-roster invite for spring training. Wells is listed to start in Double-A. He was not able to play in Spring Training this year due to a fractured rib and is set to return once he recovers by end of April.
Player to watch: OF Everson Pereira, Ranked #6 Top Prospect. He is a good fielder as he covers a lot of ground and can play any position in the outfield and good arm. In 2022 for Somerset, he batted .283/.341/.504 and .845 OPS with a total of 14 home runs and 56 runs batted in. His spring training stats of .308/.438/.462 and .899 OPS over 16 plate appearances is something that could propel him for a big 2023 season. Coach Dominguez is excited to work with Pereira as a former outfielder. He will be a great help with Pereira's development and OF drills. Coach said he is glad to have him on the team as they created a good relationship at spring training and coach will be playing him in all three positions in the outfield.
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