Austin Jackson and other notes

Tyler Kepner of the NY Times has an interesting piece on Austin Jackson's decision to play baseball and how he is performing in AAA.

Here is an excerpt from it:

Jackson thought back to his childhood in an interview last weekend at PNC Field, where he plays for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. Through Monday, he was hitting .349, third in the International League, with 11 stolen bases in 11 tries.

A 22-year-old center fielder, Jackson is still developing in his first season at Class AAA. As well as he has played, including a .436 average with runners in scoring position, he has not hit a home run all season.

Power is often the last tool a hitter finds, and Mark Newman, the Yankees’ senior vice president for baseball operations, said Jackson’s power compared well to Robinson Cano’s at the same age. Newman added that Jackson’s body should become stronger over time.

Austin Jackson presents an interesting case for the Yankees next year. With Johnny Damon, Xavier Nady, and Hideki Matsui all in contract years, the Yankees could possibly looking at an outfield of Jackson/Melky Cabrera/Brett Gardner/Nick Swisher. Unless the Yankees go out and try and get a corner outfielder such as Matt Holliday or Jason Bay, the Yankees are looking at a very young outfield next season.

In other Yankee news:

• The Yankees-Angels game that was postponed due to rain on May 3 is scheduled to be made up on Sept. 14 at 7:05 p.m.
• Xavier Nady and Jose Molina both suffered setbacks in their rehab yesterday. Nady felt soreness in his elbow that he injured back in April while throwing, but the team hopes it is just regular soreness. Molina reinjured his left quad in an extended spring training game. He is going back to New York to be examined.