Brandon Laird – Breakout Candidate for 2010
By Mike Silva ~ December 5th, 2009. Filed under: Yanks Minors.
Pete Caldera at his Pinstripes Post Blog updates us on the Yankees prospects in winter ball. I took notice of one in particular:
INF Brandon Laird, also with Surprise, hit .333 (30-for-90) with 15 extra-base hits (9 doubles, 6HR) and 24RBI…finished tied for second in the league in HR, tied for third in both doubles and extra-base hits and ranked fifth in RBI.
Jed Weisberger of MILB.com talked about Laird as a prospect that may break out in 2010 during his NYBD on WGBB spot. He is a 27th round draft pick of the Yankees back in 2007 and had a huge year in rookie ball that season (.945 OPS). Jed had Laird at number 12 on his NYBD Top 50 Prospects list. During his appearance he talked about the huge second half Laird had in the Florida State League helping Tampa win the championship. He is a 1B/3B with power. Obviously the problem with Laird is he is blocked for the next seven years by Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez. Remember, having this type of prospect is helpful in the sense that you may be able to land a big name pitcher like Roy Halladay without giving up the obvious names of Hughes, Chamberlain, and Montero. If he sticks around the Yankees organization he should spend time at Trenton in 2010 and I look forward to getting a closer look.
Brandon is also the younger brother of Detroit catcher Gerald Laird.
December 5th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I saw Laird play in 2008 and was a little surprised he put up the kind of power numbers he did in the “Sally”. A player like him has some value a potential offense-minded corner coming off of the bench, but I would not count on him as a MLB regular.