Rob Segedin Is Underrated

With so much action in the Yankee farm system happening at Charleston and Empire State, it is easily for a player on the Tampa Yankees to fly under the radar. Rob Segedin is that player.

The Yankees drafted Segedin in the 3rd round of the 2010 draft. He was a bit of a dark horse pick at the time, being a draft-eligible sophomore at Tulane with a history of lower-back injuries. He hit a crazy .434/.518/.788 for Tulane during his sophomore year, with a great-even-for-college 49/68 K/BB ratio. Tulane plays in Conference-USA, a fairly strong conference that includes Rice University and the University of Central Florida.

Segedin started his first full season at Charleston very well. He hit .323/.396/.482 over 61 games. After promotion to High-A Tampa, his hitting took a nosedive. He hit .245/.311/.309 in 52 games. His prospect status took a hit.

Now, Rob Segedin is putting away his High-A demons and off to a hot start. He’s hitting .306/.370/.538 with 4 home runs, 5 walks, and 12 strikeouts in 17 games in a very tough hitting environment. While Segedin is passable 3rd baseman, the Yankees have him manning corner outfield spots in Tampa primarily. My speculation has always been that this is more about Alex Rodriguez’s entrenched position than Segedin’s defense.

The knock against Rob Segedin to me has always been his lower back problems. If he’s healthy, he should hit. I have no idea how his defense has looked in the corner outfield spots, but that could hold back his value as well. He’s not a particularly fast player, so I have trouble imagining even as a real asset on defense there.

I think we could see Segedin move very fast. He has two years at a big college program, and is 23 years old. He already has half a season at High-A as well. The Yankees usually wait until mid-May before promoting a player like Segedin up a level. If he plays out the remainder of the 2012 season with Trenton, Segedin could be waiting for a call-up at Triple just a year from now. The Yankees have an outfield in flux over the next few years, and Segedin could provide a low-cost and effective replacement for a corner outfield spot.