Alfredo Aceves

Signed out of the Mexican League, Aceves is rapidly rising through the Yankees’ farm system, and it is no coincidence that general manager Brian Cashman drove to Scranton to watch him pitch Tuesday night.

Alfredo Aceves Martínez (born December 8, 1982 in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, Mexico) is a Minor League Baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees farm system playing with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees.

His nickname Patón means Large Feet in spanish.

Aceves pitched last season for Monterrey of the Mexican League and posted the following stats:

As they look for ways to upgrade their starting rotation, the Yankees are considering both internal and external options. Brian Cashman watched Alfredo Aceves pitch for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barres last week.

Aceves, limited to 65 pitches (as reported by the Times-Tribune in Scranton), pitched three innings against Richmond, allowing two runs, three hits and two walks and striking out six. A 25-year-old righthander, Aceves has surged through the Yankees’ minor-league system this year, putting up a 1.92 ERA in 108 innings, striking out 87 and walking just 16.

He began the season at Class A Tampa and has now pitched four games for Scranton, the first two as a reliever. His low pitch count reflected that he is being stretched back out into a starter’s role.

Trenton Thunder catcher P.J. Pilittere on what has made Aceves so successful:
“He’s got great stuff –- fastball in the low 90s, curveball, a little cutter and a changeup. The thing that makes him unique is he has completely no patterns whatsoever. It can be a 2-0 count, a time when you might think fastball, and it could be a curveball, it might be a changeup or a cutter -– anything, anytime. It really opens up some things.”
Pilittere continued: “It’s really kind of changed my perception of how we can pitch some guys. Sometimes you want to go by the book, but with him, there’s absolutely no book. It gives him a little bit of that unique edge where he’ll get late in games and some guys might have not even seen his fastball yet. It’s been enjoyable for me just to kind of sit back and watch what he’s doing. It gives me kind of a mental day off, because I know he’s got a great idea and I can sit there and say, ‘Hey, do what you want to do, we’re going to go with it.’”

 
At 25, Aceves is one of the older prospects in the Yankees system. But he’s making up for lost time, and he’s putting himself on the Yankees’ radar.

Will he be a shot in the “arm” of the Yankees rotation? Keith Law said it yesterday’s chat that he would guess Aceves would show up in the pen rather than in the rotation. Let’s see what happens.

Callum Hughson

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