Yankees call up Thomas Neal

Change is a-brewin'; according to Mark Feinsand of the NY Daily News, the Yankees optioned David Adams back to AAA and called up OF Thomas Neal. Adams started to be bunched behind Nix and Overbay when he came up but with Tex and Youk back, Adams was rarely going to see playing time. He needs the everyday development at AAA. But, let's welcome Neal to the team! If you're not familiar with him, I gave a scouting report of him back in April, which you can see here. Let's recap:

Neal will probably play as at least a RH DH, or OF against lefties, and with CJ Wilson on the hill tonight, could presumably start. But Neal's not just a platoon bat: he's hit both sides equally well (he's a righty, in case you could not deduce).

Overall line: .339/.426/.446/.872/2 HR/24 RBI/2 SB playing out of the leadoff spot since his DL stint.

Against Lefties: .333/.435/.436/.871 with a solid 7 BB to 6 K's
Against Righties: .341/.423/.450/.872 in roughly triple the amount of plate appearances against lefties

He hits righties better but works lefties better (13 BB to 30 K's against righties). Is he playing over his head a little? Probably, but Neal's consistently made contact in the minors. Could he be better than Wells and Ichiro? The bar's low, so hell yeah. As I do with all call-ups, I wish him luck.

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