Three New York Yankees Prospects Earn Minor League Weekly Awards

The New York Yankees will keep an eye on these three prospects after they claimed weekly awards from their respective leagues on Monday.

On the position player side, Jace Avina earned player of the week honors in the South Atlantic League for the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades.  

On the mound, Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz was the pitcher of the week in the SAL while Griffin Herring won the award in the Florida State League while pitching for the Class A Tampa Tarpons.

Avina, a 21-year-old prospect who was the Yankees’ 14th round pick in 2021 out of high school, had a terrific week at the plate. He slashed .545/.643/.773 with four runs, two doubles, one home run, seven RBI, six walks and four strikeouts.

He had four multi-hit games, including back-to-back three-hit games on Saturday and Sunday.

In 20 games he’s slashed .313/.458/.406 with one home run and 10 RBI.

Rodriguez-Cruz, also 21 years old, started one game last week. He went 6.1 innings and gave up one hit, no runs and one walk against 12 strikeouts. His 12 strikeouts were the second-most in a single game in franchise history.

He was acquired, along with international bonus pool money, in exchange for catcher Carlos Narvaez in a trade with the Boston Red Sox last December. He is the Yankees’ No. 7 prospect as ranked by MLB Pipeline.

Rodriguez-Cruz is 2-1 with 2.42 ERA in four starts this season, with 30 strikeouts in 22.1 innings.

Herring was the Yankees’ sixth-round pick last July out of LSU. The 21-year-old is 3-0 with a 0.39 ERA in four starts and is New York’s No. 25 prospect. He was brilliant last week against Dunedin, as he threw seven scoreless innings. He allowed two hits and three walks. He also struck out six.