At a Glance: Yankees top Minor Leaguers so far - Offense

It's finals week for this graduating senior, and needless to say with papers, exams, presentations, graduation prep and searching for a job, it's been quite the busy last few weeks. But, I have a little bit of time today to hit on the Yankees minor league system so far through its first month. Some players have gotten off to great starts and earned promotions to the big leagues (Austin Romine, Preston Claiborne, Vidal Nuno) and bumped up a level (Rob Refsnyder). So, we will look at some not only my favorite prospects in the Yankees pipeline but also some top performers offensively. Pitchers will come in a second post. Here we go:

Catcher
C JR Murphy/AA Trenton  - .318/.412/.553/.965; .318/4 HR/18 RBI/14 BB/11 K

Murphy has been killing it so far down in Trenton, and I'm sure that AAA Scranton isn't too far off. He's kind of the forgotten catching prospect in this system, and keeping him behind the plate will help his defensive development.

Infield
1B Kyle Roller/AA Trenton - .298/.362/.482/.845; .298/4 HR/21 RBI/9 BB/31 K
2B David Adams/AAA Scranton - .325/.402/.506/.908; .325/2 HR/8 RBI/9 BB/14 K
SS Rob Refsnyder/A Charleston/Tampa - .378/.486/.504/.990; .378/1 HR/17 RBI/13 SB/20 BB/21 K
3B Ronnier Mustelier/AAA Scranton - .188/.316/.438/.753; .188/1 HR/1 RBI/3 BB/4 K

Kyle Roller is a big ol' boy - in the body shape of St. Louis Cardinals slugger Matt Adams. He's got some pop which can develop but that plate discipline worries me long-term. Adams would have gotten the call to the bigs a few weeks back, but due to weird roster regulations regarding his release & re-signing, he can't get the call until May 15. Chris Nelson needs to start hitting to keep Adams away - it's always been about health with Adams, never his ability to hit. I cheated with Refsnyder - he doesn't have a position but he can hit. He went to a big BB school in Arizona, so he could be in AA Trenton shortly and possibly in the majors as soon as 2014. Mustelier just finished his rehab and could replace Ben Francisco shortly.

Outfield
LF Thomas Neal/AAA Scranton - .339/.382/.435/.818; .339/0 HR/14 RBI/3 BB/12 K
CF Zoilo Almonte/AAA Scranton - .294/.397/.451/.848; .294/3 HR/17 RBI/18 BB/21 K
RF Jake Cave/A Charleston - .283/.339/.377/.716; .283/0 HR/3 RBI/4 BB/11 K

I was going to give RF to Tyler Austin but he's kind of struggling, but I'm confident he'll turn it around soon. Neal was doing really well before a leg injury, and hopefully he is not too far away from returning. I admittedly like Almonte a lot - that BB rate has slowed to only 1 in May so far, but also a much lower K rate with only 3 in 19 May at-bats so far. Almonte is also a better hitter with runners on: .339 with runners on and .290 with RISP. Fingers crossed for Future RBI Machine. Cave has looked solid since being added to the Riverdogs roster.

DH
I'll leave it up to you. Trenton's Neil Medchill or Scranton's Corban Joseph? Tweet me your answer @JMFlorio.