Beating the Bushes is counting down to the start of the 2010 baseball season, which kicks off with a game between the Yankees and Red Sox at Fenway Park April 4.
In the first part of our season preview, Bushes will examine Baseball America’s annual Top 10 prospect lists for the Mets and Yankees farm systems from 2000-2009. Today we’ll look at the lists from 2001.
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Much like the Mets, the Yankees list is made up of many of the same players as yesterday’s 2000 list. Six players are repeated from last year, and the new players are less than memorable ones.
10. Todd Noel, RHP – For more information on Noel’s career, check out the 2000 list.
9. Wily Mo Pena, OF –
For more information on Pena’s career, check out the 2000 list.
8. Deivi Mendez, SS – Mendez spent six seasons in the minors with the Yankees, but never made it to the major leagues. Topping out in Triple-A in 2005, Mendez was a career .242 hitter in 330 games. Of those 330 games, only five percent (17) came in Triple-A by the end of his six-year minor league career.
7. Erick Almonte, SS –
A journeyman shortstop, Almonte had two brief cups of coffee with the Yankees in 2001 and 2003. He then bounced around the minors with the Rockies and Indians before playing for the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan for three seasons. He came back to the U.S. when the Tigers signed him in May 2007, and he played in the Cubs’ organization last year.
6. Randy Keisler, LHP –
For more information on Keisler’s career, check out the 2000 list.
5. Alex Graman, LHP – A third-round pick by the Yankees in 1999, Graman made two brief stints with the Yankees in 2004 and 2005, allowing 13 earned runs in 6.1 innings. He didn’t pitch again after the 2005 season.
4. Adrian Hernandez, RHP – A Cuban defector, Hernandez has the dubious distinction of failing to get a win as a major league pitcher. He went 0-6 with a 6.55 ERA in 14 career appearances. He made two brief stints in 2001 and 2002, and after being released by the Yankees after the 2003 season, he signed with the Brewers in 2004, and pitched for Laguna in the Mexican League in 2005 and 2007.
3. D’Angelo Jiminez, SS – For more information on Jiminez’s career, check out the 2000 list.
2. Alfonso Soriano, SS –
For more information on Soriano’s career, check out the 2000 list.
1. Nick Johnson, 1B – For more information on Johnson’s career, check out the 2000 list.
tbontemps@nypost.com