On the heels of the interview with Tony Franklin interview this morning, I was lucky enough to get a chance to speak with new Thunder hitting coach Tom Slater this evening. He managed the Staten Island Yankees last year, the Gulf Coast League the year before, and has been in the Yankees system for the last four years.

As such, he's gotten a chance to see just about every young player in the system, and was willing to share a few of his insights about a few guys you'll see this year at Waterfront Park, as well as a couple of guys who might need another year at the lower levels. It's a bit lengthy, but it's worth the read. Enjoy.

Q: After managing in the Gulf Coast League in 2010 and with Staten Island last year, why do you think the Yankees assigned you to Double-A in 2012?

A: I don't know. You'd have to ask Pat Roessler that question. Six called me in October and told me I would be heading up to Trenton. Obviously I'm excited about it, getting a chance to be with Tony Franklin and Tommy Phelps, two class guys, so I'm looking forward to it. As far as why, I guess you'd probably have to ask Six that question.

Q: Besides working with the Yankees, what else do you have on your coaching resume?

A: I'm going on my fourth year with the Yankees, I just got done with the Fall League in Arizona. Yankees sent me out there this fall. Prior to the years with the Yankees I coached in college for 17 years.

Q: With the Arizona Fall League, then, you got to see some of the more experienced guys in the system, as opposed to the younger, more raw guys you'd worked with at the complex and with Staten Island.

A: Yeah, I was out there with Corb and Ronnier and Rob Segedin, and a few of our pitchers that you guys had last year -- Chase Whitley and Preston Claiborne and Dan Burawa, who I know were at Tampa last year, as well as David Phelps from the Triple-A club. All those guys were out there. It was a good time, those guys all did well and I certainly enjoyed my time out there as well.

Q: What's the difference with working with guys at the upper levels as opposed to kids who are just getting their feet wet in pro ball?

A: I think, with the younger guys, be it Gulf Coast League or Staten Island, some of the first-year guys, you're doing a lot of the stuff that's introductory to those guys. They are learning the Yankees system, the way we do certain things, be it team defense, the way we run the bases, whatever.

Obviously by the time they're up there in Trenton where you guys get to see them, they've been through rookie ball, short season, and then either Charleston or Tampa. It's an older, more mature and obviously more polished player.

Q: Let's get specific, then. With a guy like Mustelier, who's older but new to pro ball, what do you do with a guy like him?

A: I tell you what, I was really impressed with Ronnie out in Arizona. He really swung the bat well, showed the ability to hit the ball, to really use the whole field. Probably what was the most impressive -- I had been told what a good hitter he was -- but he really played defense well. He played third base a lot there, and he really played third base well.

The young guys, like I said, down in the Gulf Coast and in Staten Island, you're really helping those guys establish a routine, and hopefully you're helping them establish a routine that they can carry throughout.

With the older guys, Mustelier, Corb, Rob Segedin, these guys are a little bit older and they've already established their routines. It's a matter of helping them stick with it. Those guys all work extremely hard out in the fall league, and it was fun to be around them.

Q: Have you had a chance to work with Tony Franklin before?

A: Just in spring training, a lot in spring training over the last couple of years. What a great guy. What a great baseball guy. Really a class individual. I've always enjoyed my time around him down in spring training.

Q: What would you say your biggest strength is as a coach?

A: To be honest with you, I wouldn't say. It's not something I really want to talk about -- myself -- that much. I'm just honored to have the opportunity to get up there and coach with a bunch of good players and a great staff.

Q: Well, if you don't want to talk about yourself, then let's talk about a few of the players you might see up here at Trenton this year. First, Zoilo Almonte.

A: Yeah, Zoilo, what a great player. I really enjoyed having him down in extended spring training a couple of years ago. Tremendous athlete, tremendous skills, pop -- a lot of pop in his bat. ... Just great tools, an exciting player. Like I said, three years ago when we were together down in extended spring training, (he was) just an exciting guy to be around. That bat is fun to watch hit.

Q: How about Rob Lyerly?

A: Rob's another guy that I've gotten to know. He went straight to Staten Island out of college. I got to know him in Spring Training with some of the early work we do in January and February with the guys before Spring Training starts.

Another guy who can drive the ball. I know that at both Charleston and in Tampa, he really put up good numbers hitting, and from what I've seen of Rob, he's a guy who really drives the ball well to left-center, right-center, stays on the ball well, lot of doubles; good middle-of-the-field, gap-to-gap approach. I know he got up there with you guys for a spell last year. He's a hard-working kid who's fun to be around.

Q: I don't think Trenton's going to see him until later in the year, perhaps, but J.R. Murphy.

A: I was fortunate enough to have Murph down in the Gulf Coast League the first year he signed. He's very intelligent, he's got a great demeanor and he's got a really great approach. He had a great high school coach who prepared him well.

He's just a guy with a great demeanor and a great approach coming out of high school right into pro ball right from the get-go. He signed late, but he was able to play for us there at the end of the Gulf Coast League and was dropped right into the middle of our lineup. He did a great job, and I know he's continued to do a great job.

I know he was putting up really great numbers in Charleston last year and really swinging the bat well. Unfortunately, I think he broke a foot when he first got to Tampa, but quality guy, good hitter and just a great professional demeanor.

Q: Same deal for another guy who the Thunder probably won't see this year but who is intriguing to Yankees fans nonetheless -- Gary Sanchez.

A: I had the pleasure of having Gary two years ago, and ... just a tremendous talent. Tremendous talent. He overmatched the Gulf Coast League a couple of years ago. I mean, .350 with, I don't remember how many home runs it was, nine, in a short period of time. Then he went up to Staten Island at the end of the year just as a 17-year-old guy.

Last year, I know he really got on a hot streak in Charleston with the home runs before his season got cut short by an injury as well. Just a tremendous hitter, a guy that will hit for power and for average.

Q: Just two more, the next name I'm curious about is Kyle Roller.

A: Kyle, like Rob, is a guy I've had a chance to spend some time around in spring training and in the early parts of January and February for some extra work with those guys. Again, a strong, good-looking hitter. From everything you read in the reports and everything you see, I know he's had a lot of success at Staten Island, at Charleston and in Tampa last year.

He's a guy who uses the whole field, drives the ball well to left-center field, has a lot of power in his bat, and is a good-looking hitter.

Q: Last name I'm going to mention, and he won't get to Trenton this year, but Mason Williams is the talk of the organization, so I've got to ask you about him.

A: Again, I've had the great fortune of having Mason. I had him Staten Island this year, he was the Player of the Year in the New York-Penn League. He hit .350, played a tremendous center field, stole 28 bases. He's an exciting young player, and comes to play every day and loves to compete. I'm biased. I've had him for the last two years, and he's really a good-looking young player.

Q: What could you say about his work ethic?

A: It's tremendous. Tremendous work ethic. That whole group of 2010 draft kids, guys who were first at the yard every day at Staten Island, they put in countless hours at the cages with Ty Hawkins, and they also put in good work at the fields defensively in their pregame work as well.

Every one of those kids, whether it's Mason, Cito, Ben Gamel, Tyler Austin, Angelo Gumbs, just a really special group of young players.

TRENTON – Before every game, Thunder manager Tony Franklin oversees his infielders as they work on their craft. Jose Pirela and Corban Joseph in particular can be seen taking ground balls and working on perfecting the double-play turn. Rob Lyerly works on getting better at the corners.

This is all in addition to the day’s regularly scheduled pregame practice session.

After the infield’s display in the fifth inning of the team’s 9-3 loss to the Binghamton Mets last night, it’s clear that there’s a lot of work left to be done.









In that frame, Shaeffer Hall, who had the misfortune of being a control artist who can get hitters to beat the ball into the dirt, watched as Lyerly, Pirela and Addison Maruszak each misplayed grounders behind him.

The final error of the inning, Lyerly’s, would have ended the frame with just four runs on the board and the Thunder staring at a 6-2 hole. Instead, Niuman Romero, activated from Binghamton’s disabled list to replace the promoted Jordany Valdespin, reached, and the B-Mets tacked on three more.

When asked about it before the game, Franklin agreed that his team’s defense, particularly on the infield, has been one of the major contributing factors in its current tailspin.

“It’s a defensive game. I’ve said this for five years and I’ve said this for a long time in my career. … We’ve made a lot of errors, and errors have contributed to big innings (and) runs, and that makes playing the game a little more difficult.”

To wit, through the first 116 games, Trenton has committed 130 errors. Four players (Pirela, Joseph, Lyerly, Brad Suttle) have more than 10, something that hadn’t been accomplished since 2006.

Allowing seven runs in an inning is never good, but facing a former first-rounder throwing high-90s gas only compounds the situation.

That was the case with Matt Harvey last night, the seventh overall selection in last June’s draft, who, although he didn’t have lockdown stuff, was able to quiet the Thunder’s bats over five innings.

In all, Harvey allowed three runs on six hits, walked nobody and fanned six.

Before the disastrous fifth, things were actually looking up for the Thunder, who were able to briefly time Harvey’s fastball. Melky Mesa and Zoilo Almonte strung together consecutive singles in the second, and Damon Sublett sent home the first run with a ringing double into the left-center field alleyway.

A groundout from Jose Gil – who also erred in the fifth – brought home a second run, which tied the game at the time.

NOTES: Joseph was not initially in the lineup. He was scheduled to visit the doctor to have a stye over his eye lanced. Plans changed, however, and he was reinserted into day’s starting nine. … Ray Kruml took batting practice yesterday, and could be activated in time for this weekend’s set in Harrisburg. … Austin Romine (lower back) is still day to day.

Even though it had a little twist at the end, the Thunder followed virtually the same script they have for the last five weeks: Lose, and do so in particularly frustrating fashion.

This time it was a 6-5 defeat against Binghamton, one in which it looked for a moment like the tide was finally beginning to turn.

Down 6-1 opening the eighth, Jose Pirela blooped a single into a shallow left field. Corban Joseph followed with a single through the right side, and Rob Lyerly capped the rally with a long three-run homer into the blackness beyond the wall in right-center field.

With the pendulum appearing to swing back in their favor, the Thunder kept chipping.

Damon Sublett started the ninth with a triple off the top of the wall in center, which Jose Gil followed with a walk against Binghamton closer Josh Stinson.

Things then turned quickly back toward the visitors’ dugout.

With his team down two and threatening, Gil committed one of baseball’s biggest no-no’s when he got picked off of first base on Stinson’s fake-to-third-throw-to-first move.

Sublett scored on a wild pitch, but the next two men, Addison Maruszak and Austin Krum went down in order to close the game and the send Trenton back to the clubhouse with its six loss out of seven tries in August.

“I’ve got a recording,” manager Tony Franklin said afterward, “and it’s not good. It’s starting to wear on me. I think we’re a better team than that, but we keep seeing the same movie over and over every night, and I’m tired of watching it.”

In spite of the loss, the Thunder, who are just 11-25 since the start of July, find themselves just one game behind Reading for the Eastern Division wild card and just five games back of division leader New Hampshire, against whom they still have six head-to-head matchups.

With that knowledge, Lyerly says, the team can take a hint of solace in knowing its mess of a second half hasn’t amounted to a knockout blow.

“We’re right there,” he said. “It’s only a matter of time before we roll through and make a push and start climbing the ladder.”

Things started poorly last night when, with two outs and a runner on second, starter Graham Stoneburner lost the strike zone. He issued two consecutive free passes before third baseman Mike Fisher cleaned the bags with a double.

And although Fisher was wiped out in a rundown between second and third base, his hit put the Thunder in a three-run hole which, lately, has been an overwhelming deficit.

Over its last 11 games, last night marked just the third time Trenton had scored more than three runs.

Stoneburner settled down after the first inning, dodging in and out of trouble through the next four frames to keep Binghamton off the board. Problem was, Trenton wasn’t putting up much of a fight either.

Their first run scored on a Krum groundout in the fifth, and they collected just three hits and a walk in five frames against starter Collin McHugh.

Binghamton added to its lead in the sixth and seventh innings, using a two-run home run from Raul Reyes and a seventh-inning double from Fisher that plated Havens and chased Stoneburner.

DeAngelo Mack doubles home the go-ahead runs



Damon Sublett singles home the game-tying score



Rob Lyerly's first Double-A at-bat at home



Jose Pirela singles off of Henderson Alvarez



Adeiny Hechavarria robs Austin Romine of a knock

TRENTON -- The Thunder could be getting quite a bit of reinforcements in the coming days. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman confirmed yesterday that Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes’ next rehab start would come with Trenton on Friday, when the team opens its set with the New Britain Rock Cats.

Hughes struck out seven in 4 1/3 innings with the Short-Season Staten Island Yankees on Sunday, and reached as high as 95 miles per hour with his fastball.

Also in the arms department, Alan Horne confirmed to The Trentonian that he will be joining the Thunder and is scheduled to start on Wednesday against the Portland Sea Dogs at Hadlock Field.

Horne was the 2007 Eastern League Pitcher of the Year, and last pitched for Trenton in 2009, when he went 0-3 with an 11.15 ERA in 15 1/3 innings before succumbing to a rotator cuff injury. He had surgery to remove a bone spur in his shoulder, and underwent platelet-rich plasma therapy to heal the rotator cuff.

Second baseman David Adams, who last played on May 22, 2010, with Thunder, was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI in the Gulf Coast League yesterday, a sign that he is getting closer to returning to action.

When he is fully healed from plantar fasciitis and the aftereffects of a broken foot he suffered in that May contest, it is likely he’ll return to the Thunder.

Trenton utilityman Addison Maruszak has been promoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, according to Scranton Times-Tribune beat writer Donnie Collins. Maruszak has spent time at catcher, first base, third base and in right field this season, and was hitting .218/.335/.306 before the promotion.

To account for his absence, Trenton is receiving Rob Lyerly from Tampa. Lyerly was hitting .315/.363/.462 with four homers and 46 RBIs.

From the top down, here are today's first-inning at-bats from: Slade Heathcott, J.R. Murphy, Jimmy Paredes, Neil Medchill, Luke Murton, Rob Lyerly, DeAngelo Mack, Kyle Higashioka and Kelvin Castro. Enjoy.