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Farm system rankings put Yankees on top

By BOB PUTNAM

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 2, 2001

Yankees minor-leaguers have a nice impersonation act going.

With each victory, the organization's minor league clubs, from Single A Tampa to Triple A Columbus, look more and more like their parent club in New York.

The latest organizational rankings by USA Today put the Yankees farm system No. 1 -- based on talent and standings. The newspaper specifically mentioned the Norwich Navigators, currently in second place in the Eastern League with a 62-45 record, as having the largest collection of talent. Most of that talent has its roots in Tampa.

Norwich's top three pitchers in wins -- Randy Flores, Brandon Claussen and Alex Graman -- played for Tampa the past two years. As for hitting, former Tampa outfielder Marcus Thames leads Norwich in RBI (69), home runs (22) and doubles (33).

In all, Yankees minor league clubs have a combined 199-161 record and only two teams are .500 or below. Tampa is doing its part, going 24-15 in the second half to remain in second place in the Western Division.

ALUMNI UPS AND DOWNS: Brandon Duckworth and Ryan Bradley both pitched in the FSL in 1998. That's about where the similarities between the two end.

Duckworth was a non-drafted free agent who has made a rapid rise since pitching for Clearwater in '98 and '99. He has been an all-star the past two seasons, his most recent selection coming in the International League as a member of Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

This season, Duckworth is 12-2 with 135 strikeouts and a 2.63 ERA. He has a chance to be called up to Philadelphia as the Phillies make a playoff push. Meanwhile, Bradley, ranked the Yankees' No. 2 prospect in 1999 by Baseball America, made his big-league debut in '98 but has fallen through the ranks since. He played most of this season at Norwich before being sent to Tampa last week.

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