The Tampa Yankees (High A) took it on the chin today losing 11-1 to the Toronto’s High A affiliate, the Dunedin Blue Jays.

Once again, the Yankees did not hit. For the second straight year, the Tampa Yankees are very hitting challenged. Many of the Tampa Yankees were on the Low A Charleston RiverDogs last year, and hit the ball with authority. Players such as Brandon Laird, Austin Romine and Austin Krum had good seasons last year, but have not performed as well in the notoriously pitching rich Florida State League (FSL).  

Only Jesus Montero has had a good season so far.

Newcomers such as Eric Fryer (obtained for Chase Wright) and Addison Maruszak (drafted last season, and skipped Low A) haven’t performed as hoped.

Even guys who played there last season such as Damon Sublett and Mitch Hilligoss have struggled this season. Hilligoss was considered a real top hitting prospect until he met up with FSL, where many a good hitting prospects have gone to die.

The problem is that the heat and humidity of Florida kills long drives before they get out of the park, plus many teams load the FSL rotations with top prospect pitchers.

One of the Yankees top prospect pitchers, Jeremy Bleich, suffered his first loss of the young season, allowing six hits and three earned runs in 5.1 innings. It was his only start this season that Bleich allowed more than two earned runs. He is now 2-1, 2.33 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in five starts.

The way the Yankees minor league starters are going down with injuries and such, if Bleich keeps up his consistency, he could move up to Double A some time this season.

The game wasn’t as kind to Charles Nolte (obtained from Minnesota for Jason Jones) who allowed 7 earned runs in 1.1 innings of work. Nolte has been groomed to be a multi-inning reliever, going 2 or 3 innings in each of his five appearances up until today.

The big winner today was Tim Norton. Who? Norton, a big 6′5″, 230 lb. mean machine on the mound. He has a Bob Gibson, Don Drysdale mentality on the mound, a pitcher who wants to not just beat you but demoralize you as well.

Norton was a 7th round pick by the Yankees out of UCONN, and was part of that great draft which has yielded Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain, Mark Melancon, David Robertson, Zach McAllister, Dellin Betances and George Kontos. Norton was considered a sleeper who was a four year starter in the tough Big East.

He did well at Staten Island and was cruising along in 2007 with five starts (1-3, 3.71 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 10.8 K/9, 4.0 K/B at Low A Charleston until the need for rotator cuff surgery in April of 2007. He has a big fastball, sometimes touching 95, but also threw a splitter - and thus the reason for the rotator cuff repair.

The splitter is a great pitch to throw if you want to strike out a lot of guys and have a desire for shoulder surgery.

However, it has been two years since Norton pitched in a real game. On Saturday, he went 1.2 innings, allowing one hit, no runs, no walks, a hit batter and 3 whiffs. He entered the game for Bleich in the top of the 6th inning, bases loaded and one out before striking out the next two batters.

What rotator cuff surgery does is sap your velocity and I do not know what the guns read in Tampa today for Norton, but if he striking guys out it can’t be all that bad.

I remember seeing Norton in Staten Island and thought this kid was a monster. The Yankees thought so, too, and it is worth keeping an eye out on the 26 year old Norton to see how quickly he rises through the ranks. 

When it becomes consistently warm up in the Trenton area, I expect Norton to be promoted to face better hitters.