We often talk about how many Indy grads are playing in Triple-A, just one notch below the majors. It may surprise some, but the powerful New York Yankees have been one of the most active teams at purchasing the contracts of Independent players again this season.
All five of the players below came out of Indy leagues (three from the Atlantic League this season), and are based at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA, that one step away from putting on the pinstripes at Yankee Stadium.
Recent signees Terry Tiffee and Logan Kensing are doing especially well.
Tiffee, a former major league third baseman who was one of those sold by first-half Atlantic League division champion Lancaster, is hitting .338 after 18 games with three homers and seven doubles among his hits. Tiffee his a dozen runs batted in.
Kensing, signed out of Bridgeport, has a win and three saves in his first five Scranton/Wilkes-Barre appearances with eight strikeouts and only one walk in 6.1 innings while posting a terrific 1.42 earned run average.
Greg Smith, purchased from Grand Prairie, TX in the independent American Association, is starting and after six appearances (one was in relief) he is 2-2, 4.99. Fourteen walks in 30.2 innings have not helped his cause.
Veteran major leaguer Mike Lamb, normally a first baseman or third baseman, has hit
.255 in 11 games since leaving Camden with seven of his 12 hits for extra bases. He has driven in five.
Onetime Chicago Cubs star Mark Prior, who seemed to be a decent candidate for the Bronx at the end of spring training, has once again spent much of the year on the disabled list. Now 30, the right-hander worked three times for Class A Tampa, FL, but has thrown only one inning (scoreless) with the top farm club. Prior started his comeback with Orange County (Fullerton, CA) of the independent Golden League.
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