ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Before Yankees minor leaguer Gio Gonzalez threw six shutout innings for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre against Lehigh Valley this week, RailRiders manager Jay Bell sat down with NJ Advance Media for 25 minutes going over some of his players and others in the organization, including Tyler Wade.

Here are eight questions posed to Bell, a former standout shortstop in the big leagues who is in his first season skippering in Triple-A after last season managing the Double-A Trenton Thunder and piloting the high-A Tampa Tarpons in 2017:

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Gail Burton | AP

Q: What advice would you give Yankees utility infielder Tyler Wade, who has hit at every level in the minors and has hit well year after year in spring training but hasn't yet done it in big-league games?

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Bell: "I think the success that Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar had last year (as rookies) … that doesn't happen very often. You think back a few years ago when Aaron Judge came to the big leagues. He struggled a little bit. When I go back and look at guys that I played with … Matt Williams hit about a buck 80 when he first got to the big leagues for an extended period of time. I hit .216 and .218 my first two extended stints in the big leagues. So it's a struggle for young players getting to understand who you are as a player.

"Years ago when Charlie Manuel was my hitting coach in Cleveland, he told one thing that was really important for me to learn as a player was I can’t be afraid to fail. This was 1988. In 1989 whenever I got sent down from Cleveland to Buffalo, I remember having that thought process. ‘Let’s go, let’s figure out how to get back up there.’ It goes back to the work that we put in. Put in the work and trust the work, because hard work in my opinion eventually pays off. It may not be on your timetable, but eventually it’s going to pay off.

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"So you figure out how to get a quality day of work in, trust the process as best you can, live with whatever the results are and then redo it the next day. Sooner or later, that hard work is going to pay off. You may not see a hundred percent improvement, but you’re going to see improvement.

"When I played in Pittsburgh, they talked about improving 10 percent of 1 percent daily. So at the end of a regular season, theoretically you’d be 15 percent better than you started that year. The next year, you do the same thing … 10 percent of 1 percent daily. Of the course of five or six years, you’re going to be a much, much improved player. And that’s the idea, but the problem is for a young player, you want it so fast.

"Tyler had a great spring and did a fantastic job of handling himself when he came down to Triple-A and he was prepared to play for me. His attitude was fantastic. Fortunately for him, he got called up before our season started. That was very encouraging to see.”

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Q: Chance Adams was regarded as one of the Yankees' best prospects a couple years ago, then he followed that with a bad 2018 season pitching in Triple-A in which his velocity was down. This spring, he struggled again and now he's starting in the season (with a 9.82 ERA in two starts). His velocity still is down some in the low 90s instead of high 90s. What's going on with Adams?

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Bell: "Command is king. Last week, we were watching the Yankees and Masahiro Tanaka was pitching, and whomever was at the plate kept fouling off pitches. Tanaka continued to make quality pitches. He didn't give into that batter just because he kept fouling off some balls where he could have got frustrated and threw one right down the middle. I think that's what separates big leaguers from minor leaguers.

"I think Chance is right there. He’s getting to that point where he has to figure out how to make those continued quality pitches. Again, command is king when it comes to pitching. The guys who have the most success in major league baseball are the ones who command the ball better than the others. If you don’t have 95, 96, 97 (mph) … if you can command the baseball, you’re going to be successful, and I think that’s all Chance needs to do. Just figure out how to put the ball where he wants it.”

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Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Q: Trey Amburgey put up good numbers in Trenton last season – hit he .258 with 16 homers and 74 RBI, plus he had eight assists and only one error playing all three outfield positions. This year, he's off to a great start (with a .400 average in 35 at-bats through Thursday). What does Amburgey need to do to get to the next level?

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Bell: "There's nothing that's keeping Trey from progressing. It's just hitting at this level and making sure that he spends even time here. He spent a full season in A-ball two years ago (playing for me) and he spent the whole year in Double-A last year (playing for me). Hopefully, he'll get the time and experience here in Triple-A this year to hopefully advance. He's still a young player (at 24) and he's got some time left (to develop).

"One of the strides that he made last year was getting better against righties. He’s done a really good job against left-handers. That’s been what’s so special about the way he plays. One of the things that I really enjoyed about him last year was how clutch his performance was. He ended up coming through in a lot of really tough situations.

"He kind of grew up last year a little bit in learning how to beat his opponent mentally. With a lot of young players, they’re just trying to take the abilities that they have and go out and best somebody who has a real good ability, too. So it’s more about the mental aspects of the game for me that’s going to allow Trey to progress.”

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Todd Hiller | Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

Q: What is Thairo Estrada's ceiling in your mind? Some scouts really like him as a utility infielder, others thing he can be a starter somewhere in the infield. I know a lot of people are rooting extra hard for him because of what happened to him two winters ago when he was shot during a robbery attempt in Venezuela.

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Bell: "I can say a lot about Thairo. He's a phenomenal kid. One of the things the Yankees organization has done is we've drafted or traded for really quality people. Now we like quality players, too, so they've done a good job of balancing both. But Thairo is a joy to manage. Whenever I send him out there on the infield, he handles himself extremely well at short, second and third. He's an asset defensively, for sure. Offensively, I've seen him do some really good things – I had him in the Arizona Fall League a couple years ago - and I'm excited to see what he's capable of doing. I really enjoy watching him. When he's right, he's really, really good. He's a young player who has to figure out two things that every player has to figure out over the course of their careers. He has to figure out how to simplify the game and figure out how to slow it down. That's what Thairo and most guys in Triple-A need to do, because most of them are going to touch the big leagues. The quicker they learn how to slow it down and simplify the better, and I think Thairo is in that process right now."

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Mark Lomoligo | Tampa Tarpons

Q: Adonis Rosa is an interesting pitching prospect. Wins can be overrated, but he was 14-3 last year with a decent ERA last year, including 13-2 in high-A, and now he's beginning the year in Triple-A after just two starts in Double-A last season. His first outing this year, Rosa did well working two shutout innings of relief. Is he a guy worth keeping an eye on?

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Bell: "Rosa is a guy who brings a little bit of everything as a pitcher. He can get up there to the mid 90s, but he's a command guy who we'll keep stretched out so we can use as a starter or reliever. There's a lot of things that are interesting about him.

"For the time being, he’ll be in the bullpen for us, but he’s also the guy who’s going to be our swing guy right now. I love his mound presence. He’s very comfortable out there. You see his demeanor is very under control. The mental aspects of this game are extremely important. Physical, you have to have it in order to be a professional, but in order to compete at the higher levels against better talent, you need a strong mind and Rosa is pretty good at that.”

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Q: Mike Ford, a New Jersey native who attended college at Princeton, is off to a tremendous start (hitting .448 with four homers and 11 RBI in seven games). He had 20 homers in 429 at-bats in 2017 and 16 homers in 386 at-bats last year. He has decent size, too. Does he have enough power to be a big leaguer?

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Bell: "I think so. I think Mike is a guy that's going to hit a lot of doubles and he's a guy that's going to hit it over the fence, too. I believe that the balls that we're playing with now in Triple-A are a little bit different. Of course, we've got the major league balls that are wound probably just a little bit tighter, so that's probably going to help out for sure. And so, his (four homers) are probably a decent indicator what he can accomplish at the big-league level."

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Todd Hiller | Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

Q: Ryan McBroom, another first baseman, hit .302 with 15 homers in Double-A and Triple-A last season. He has good size, too, at 6-3, 235, but he's not a young guy at 27. What does he need to do to get to the big leagues?

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Bell: "Ryan is a guy that I have a great deal of affection for. I had him last year and watched him to a terrific job for me in Double-A, and we had the opportunity to send him to Triple-A a couple times and welcome him back in situations where he could be bitter, and he handled it extremely well.

"From a physical standpoint, he’s certainly gifted and able. But I think one of the things that he’s got to figure out how to do is trust the work in the cage because if he puts the good part of the bat on the ball, the ball is going to go a long way.

"Sometimes with him … hitters tend to make adjustments in the cage and then once they get into the game and it starts speeding up, and (good results) don’t happen right away, they tend to fall back. So just trust the process and allow the hard work that goes on in the cage translate to the field. If Mike does that, I think he’s going to end up being a quality player.”

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Brandon Wagner, 1B/3B

Q: Were there any off-the-radar prospects that you noticed in spring training?

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Bell: "There was a kid over in Philadelphia that I saw. Harper was his name! …. Nah, there always are intriguing guys. You look at Brandon Wagner (pictured above). He's a guy in Trenton right now that can hit a little bit figuring out where he fits. He's played at first, second, third. He's played some outfield. I don't know where he hits. There are guys that I'm pretty fond of that have done a good job.

"Mandy Alvarez, who is playing some third base for me now … I had Alvarez in Trenton last year and in Tampa the year before that. There are a lot of things I like about him. Nobody gives him a chance to make it to the big leagues. I don’t know if he’s a big leaguer, but I certainly am going to treat him like a big leaguer because he’s got terrific bat-to-ball skills.

"(Double-A shortstop) Kyle Holder is one of my favorites. I think he’s major league ready defensively. He just has to figure out some stuff offensively, but he’s starting to get his man body a little bit and in my opinion he’s a big leaguer.”

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Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.