Top prospect nears return to mound
TRENTON >> After dodging a bullet, Albert Abreu is nearing a return to the mound.
The right-hander, who suffered a strained bicep during an outing on July 23, is scheduled to rehab next Tuesday.
“All signs are pointing towards a nice recovery,” Thunder manager Patrick Osborn said Friday, adding that he’s unsure where Abreu will pitch. “I think that’s still to be decided. Hopefully it’s here with us, but that could always change. But I think that’s the target date for him to pitch.”
Abreu, 23, is rated by MLB Pipeline as the Yankees’ seventh-best prospect. Prior to the injury the 6-foot-2 flamethrower was working through warts with consistency in Double-A. He sports a 3.81 ERA and 1.61 WHIP in 82.2 innings.
Osborn also confirmed Michael King, the Yankees’ reigning Minor League Pitcher of the Year, will make another start Saturday against Harrisburg.
King labored through his worst start in the organization last Sunday in Hartford, allowing 10 hits and 10 earned runs in three innings.
Keep in mind, though, that the 24-year-old didn’t pitch this season until July 3 because of elbow discomfort that started in February.
“This is a guy that’s basically in kind of a spring training for him right now. He’s just getting back on the mound in a game environment against Double-A hitters that have been going at it for four months now, and there’s a little catching up to do,” Osborn said. “His stuff wasn’t quite as sharp as I’ve seen him in the past obviously. I would say it’s most likely due to just that extended time off. I think that as he gets more starts under his belt here over the next couple weeks he’s going to continue to get better, and hopefully by the time we’re in the playoffs that’s kind of when he hits his stride and he’s the typical Michael King that we all know he can be.”
Health-wise, King is fine and continuing to build up arm strength. He threw 76 pitches in his last start and 63 before that.
When at his best mechanically, King’s upside is arguably as high as any Yankees pitching prospect. The Rochester native rocketed through the system after coming over from Miami in a November 2017 trade, posting a 1.79 ERA in 25 games between High-A, DoubleA and Triple-A last year.
“We took him to his pitch count with the mindset being we had to get him there so that his next time out, it goes up,” Osborn said. “The results of the game warranted possibly taking him out prior to that, but it wouldn’t have done him any good in terms of the overall picture of where we want to get him by the end of the season. He was able to make all his pitches and he got through the workload, and he’s fine.”
Playoff Rotation
After this weekend, the Thunder are off Monday and then have 21 regular-season games left until the Eastern League Playoffs.
While there could still be more roster movement until then — Brian Keller just went to Triple-A on Thursday — Osborn said righthander Nick Nelson would be the Game 1 starter if they can manipulate the rotation that way.
Osborn and pitching coach Tim Norton are having conversations and expect to adjust the rotation as needed in the last week of August. Trenton hosts Game 3-5 of the Eastern League Division Series by virtue of winning the first-half division title.
“With what we have now I think we’re fully loaded, especially when Albert gets back. But we’ll see what happens,” Osborn said. “If there’s moves that need to be made I’m sure if we send a quality pitcher I’m sure we’ll get a quality pitcher for him. There’s some guys that are laying in Tampa that are pretty darn good.”
Gittens’ Healthy Season
Entering play Friday, first baseman Chris Gittens sat second in the league in home runs (19) and on-base plus slugging (.895).
Trenton’s cleanup batter has managed to stay healthy after dealing with nagging hip injuries last year. Early this season, Osborn was routinely resting Gittens in dayafter-night games. The Thunder skipper is still giving Gittens DH days when possible, although the last two weeks have been challenging with the club rostering one less position player than normal.
“I’m just very happy for him that he’s finally been able to string a full year together, and the production is a product of that,” Osborn said. “He’s got to be on the field to do what he’s capable of doing, and this year he’s been able to do that. Credit to him for coming into camp in shape and staying on top of it. We’ve got a couple weeks left for him to finish this thing out.”