Tuesday night’s official unveiling of the Somerset Patriots as the Yankees’ new Class AA affiliate showcased some of the organization’s best young talent.
There was Opening Night starter Luis Gil looking the part as a top-5 Yankees prospect with a dominating, short-but-sweet outing, 3 2/3 shutout innings and six strikeouts in a 6-0 Patriots win over the Harrisburg Senators at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, N.J.
There was five-tool center fielder Estevan Florial, the choice for some of Yankee Nation to double jump to the bigs and replace Aaron Hicks, getting off to a great start by blasting a first-inning leadoff homer on his Double-A at-bat.
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And then there was the good debut of the organization’s new sleeper prospect Stephen Ridings, the 6-foot-8 right-handed reliever who sometimes gets ignored when he and teammates are loosening up their arms in pre-game.
“This is my first year meeting (Ridings) and nobody wants to play catch with him just because he throws too hard,” winning pitcher and Toms River product Ron Marinaccio said with a smile. “I mean, he throws pretty freakin’ hard! That’s usually a sign that it’s going to be tough to hit.”
Ridings’ bread and butter is his 100-mph heater, and good heaters were on display when he worked a scoreless eighth with a strikeout and walk after Marinaccio’s 3 1/3 shutout innings of relief.
“It was exciting having him out there, and he did all we can ask,” Somerset manager Julio Mosquera said of Ridings.
This is an interesting Yankees’ offseason find. Not a young kid at 25, Ridings was signed in January as a minor-league free agent after being released last November by the Kansas City Royals, his second professional organization.
“Stephen Ridings is going to excite some people,” Yankees player development director Kevin Reese said this week. “After he was released, he came into camp and opened a lot of eyes.”
Ridings’ pro resume isn’t impressive. Originally a Chicago Cubs eighth-round pick in 2016, the Huntington, N.Y., native and Haverford (Pa.) College alum has a 4.97 career ERA pitching only rookie and short-season Class A ball from 2017-19.
Traded by the Cubs to the Royals during spring training 2019, he was still in rookie ball that year and pitched to a 5.91 ERA mostly as a starter for Idaho Falls. He was idle last year due to the pandemic wiping out the entire 2020 minor league baseball campaign, then without a job when the Royals cut him.
And now Ridings is the tallest player in the Yankees organization, big leagues included. He’s also one of the most intriguing.
“Every time you get a tall pitcher, everybody looks at the speed,” Mosquera said. “He gets it up to 100 and 101 a lot of times. I don’t want to be cocky about it, but it’s something that he lets go all the time. We know that as an organization. We saw this coming.”
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Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.