Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees first baseman Juan Miranda was promoted to the major leagues last night after Scranton’s Bricktown Showdown 4-1 loss to the Sacramento River Cats.

Miranda joins recent call ups RHP Humberto Sanchez and C Francisco Cervelli.

All three players had been part of the Yankees 40 man roster all season, so their call ups were not a surprise. If you have read my writings, I have advocated Miranda’s call up for quite some time and have him at #5 of my list of top Yankees prospects for 2009. Although he hit very well this season at Scranton, his work against LHP was suspect, but he hit RHP to a tune of .332 BA/.439 OBP/.534 SLG/.973 OPS.

Before the Yankees go after an extremely high-priced, free-agent first baseman like Mark Teixeira, they would be better off if they allowed Miranda to platoon with Jorge Posada and an inexpensive RH hitter (Cody Ransom, Shelley Duncan) to fill the 1B/DH role next season. With the 25 year old Cuban defector Miranda’s ability to pummel RH pitching, the Yankees would be wise to get Miranda 300 at bats against righties next year. He is also a pretty good first baseman and being lefty thrower should allow him to make throws to second base much easier (and better) than Jason Giambi. Posada is included in the mix because, despite his insistence, he will not be able to resume his regular catching duties next season.

Look for Molina once again to be the starting catcher next season with the switch-hiting Cervelli, who has a very strong arm and calls a great game, to be the primary backup. Another plus is that Cervelli has a very good looking girlfriend.

Other 40 man roster Yankees not yet called up include Shelley Duncan, Justin Christian, Chase Wright, Ian Kennedy, Jonathan Albaladejo and Trenton AA title game winner Jeffrey Marquez. All but Marquez have MLB experience.