This Yankees shortstop has best glove in minors, report says

Staten Island Yankees Kyle Holder #14 in action, at bat against the State College Spikes during a minor league baseball game in Staten Island, NY on Sunday, June 28, 2015. (Gregory Payan | AP)

By Brendan Kuty | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
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on January 17, 2017 at 7:00 AM, updated January 17, 2017 at 7:14 AM
Kyle Holder's glove is living up to the hype.

The 2015 Yankees first-round pick was named the best defensive shortstop in the minors by Jim Callis at MLB.com.

The report detailed the best defenders at each position in the minor leagues.

From the report:

"I haven't had more people rave about a prospect's defensive prowess to me since the days of Omar Vizquel coming up with Seattle," a second AL scouting official said. "I've had scouts say they look forward to watching Holder take pregame ground balls like they would watching a guy with 80 raw power take batting practice."

And here's what Yankees scouting director Damon Oppenheimer said after the team drafted Holder at No. 30 and gave him a $1.8-million signing bonus.

"Holder is about as elite a defender as we've seen come through the college ranks," Oppenheimer said. "He's got a tremendous glove. He also had a productive year offensively and does not swing and miss."

Holder, a former junior college basketball player, has also made strides with the bat, former Yankees minor league hitting coordinator James Rowson said last season.

"He's done a great job," Rowson said. "He and Greg Colburn have worked their tails off together. To be able to have his experience at Single-A, it shows in some of the players in when they go there, how they learn there. But Kyle had a really good instructional league last year where he started to turn some things around and learn some things about the swing and then, his athleticism and his work ethic and his attention to detail have taken off. If you add that with Greg Colburn to guide him along the way, we see an exciting first full season from him.

Holder, 22, is expected to start next season at High-A Tampa. He hit .290 with one homer, 18 RBI and a .669 OPS in 88 games at Low-A Charleston last year.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2017 08:50AM by Giambino.