MLB

Scranton rotation jumbled by ‘major’ needs

One version of the Yankees’ Triple-A rotation this season might have featured prospects Adam Warren, Brett Marshall, Vidal Nuno and Dellin Betances along with minor league journeyman Chris Bootcheck. That’s the stable, even ideal, version, the jigsaw with the full complement of pieces arrayed from New York to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to Trenton.

Instead, the organizational flow chart has been beset by injuries and inefficiencies; Warren has spent the entire season with the Yankees, Marshall and Nuno have been pressed into spot duty in the majors and Betances, recast as a reliever after walking half the park in his first few turns, was called up Thursday.

The effect of the flux is trickle-up. Prospects initially ticketed for Double-A pick up Triple-A experience, and veteran arms fill in the blanks.

Here’s a brief inventory of the Yankees’ upper-level pitching depth:

Nuno: Fresh off notching his first major league win Monday, the 25-year-old southpaw had been slated to start for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre tonight, but was recalled by the Yankees when Andy Pettitte went on the disabled list. In four starts before his late April promotion, Nuno — a non-prospect who played collegiate ball in the NAIA at Baker University in Kansas and in the independent Frontier League before the Yankees acquired him in 2011 — notched a 1.54 ERA and 26 strikeouts against just two walks.

Marshall: The team’s No. 6-ranked prospect by Baseball America was deployed for 108 pitches of mop-up duty Wednesday at the Stadium. Marshall, a 23-year-old right-hander, then was promptly returned to the minors, where he had allowed two earned runs combined in his past three Triple-A starts, with 17 punchouts and 12 walks in those 18 1/3 innings.

Bootcheck: The former first-round pick of the Angels is now 34 years old, having spent the past four seasons in almost a caricature of the itinerant ballplayer — employed, in sequence, by the Indianapolis Indians, Yokohama Bay Stars, Durham Bulls and Toledo Mud Hens. Bootcheck, the Railriders’ lone rotation constant, sported a 1.25 ERA and 0.94 WHIP before getting shelled in his seventh start.

Chien-Ming Wang: The two-time 19-game winner for the Yankees simply has not missed enough bats in six starts since joining the Railriders in mid-April. Wang is generating his share of groundouts with his sinker (2.5 for every out in the air), but has just 18 Ks in 38 1/3 innings. In his last start Thursday, he was tagged for 12 hits.

Caleb Cotham: The righty, 25, was Vanderbilt teammates with David Price and Mike Minor before being drafted in the fifth round in 2009. His six outings to open the season at Double-A (3.96 ERA, 20 K/13 BB) likely would not have merited a level-bump without the vacancies, and he allowed seven earned runs, three homers and four walks in his first 8 2/3 innings at Triple-A.

Nik Turley: An offseason addition to the 40-man roster, Turley, 23, made his Triple-A debut Monday with a six-inning, two-hit, four-strikeout beauty. The 6-foot-4 left-hander is back at Trenton, where he was having an uneven campaign (4.98 ERA, 37 Ks/19 BBs in 34 1/3 innings).