New York Yankees Top 36 Prospects

As a SoCal high schooler, Jones was a big-ceilinged, late-first round prospect as both a hitter and a pitcher, but a senior-year surgery to repair a fracture in his elbow was a blow to his draft stock and he ended up heading to Vanderbilt, where he re-injured his elbow as a freshman and required Tommy John surgery. Jones then focused solely on hitting. After an understandably rusty sophomore year in which it looked like the game was too fast for him, Jones moved from first base to right field and became a full-time starter in his junior draft season. He tweaked his swing throughout the spring and began to look more comfortable with the pace and difficulty of SEC baseball, as well as his gigantic body. The Yankees took him late in the first round and put Jones in center field, and he reached Double-A Somerset in a power- and strikeout-laden first full pro season.

Jones has enormous potential, with eventual 40-homer power in the tank, and I think over time he’s going to be able to shorten up and still get to enormous pop. His previous two-way prospect status, the pandemic, his college injuries, and Jones’ outlier size are all “tip of the iceberg” traits that suggest late development. The hit tool is the key variable here. There is probably going to be an initial adjustment period against big league stuff, but the two-way Jones’ stride length helps him galavant around center field with promise. He has rep-based projection there because he hasn’t done it for very long, but at his size, it’s entirely possible that he’ll get too big and slow to stay there by the time his feel for the position improves to the big league standard. Even though his swing has been simplified, there is always going to be a ton of swing-and-miss here because of Jones’ lever length. His 2023 whiff rates were only about one standard deviation worse than what’s typical of a big league center fielder, with an overwhelming majority of his misses coming at the top of the strike zone and against backfoot breaking balls. He needs to be able to lift the ball more to actualize all of that power, which might mean further simplifying his cut.

I don’t expect any of this will come together in a hurry, and Jones is still more of a risky developmental prospect with a huge ceiling than he is ready for the big leagues. But as far as ceilings go, in this case we’re talking about St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Jones is on a post-2025 40-man timeline and has only had a cup of coffee at Double-A. He could feasibly spend most of the next two seasons at Somerset and Scranton because, again, there are clearly things he needs to work on at this stage. So much of this depends on whether or not the Yankees are contending, but for now I’d expect a late-2025 call-up (preserving all of his option years), with the huge impact not arriving in a consistent fashion until 2027 or so.

Wells grew on me pretty substantially during my offseason review. He still has some warts, which I’ll talk about in a second, but his overall offensive ability should provide enough impact for him to break the profound University of Arizona hitter drought the game has experienced since Scott Kingery‘s swoon.

Wells’ swing is beautifully connected from the ground up. The blend of his barrel control and the natural lift in his swing gives him a potent contact and power combination, which will likely make him a valuable hitter even if he ends up being unable to catch. His peak exit velos weren’t incredible in 2023, but Wells was working back from a rib injury that may have sapped his explosiveness. In the past, I’ve been concerned about his inability to make contact with fastballs running up and away from him, but he wasn’t as helpless against them when you put on his late-2023 tape. Anyone with a swing as uphill as Wells’ is going to swing underneath a lot of fastballs in that location, but he snatches his fair share of them and is dangerous enough in this part of the zone to alleviate some of my past apprehension. More of a problem during his big league stint toward the end of 2023 was Wells’ tendency to chase and swing over the top of changeups. Wells was a steady 11% (or better) walk rate guy in the minors, but he seemed to be pressing during his cup of coffee. I’m inclined to bet that his true skill level is closer to his historical norms.

Even an average hit/power combination would be a big deal if Wells can remain a catcher. Ever since a severe shoulder injury he suffered in high school, Wells has had issues throwing out runners. Runners have had a 82% success rate against him in pro ball (343 total stolen bases in 308 pro games). His pop times are fine (1.90 during his big league trial per Baseball Savant), but his footwork is inconsistent as he leaves his crouch, causing inaccurate throws. This issue needs long-term attention, but Wells has made considerable progress as a receiver and ball-blocker despite his below-average hands and limited lateral mobility, the result of his one-knee style. I’m now more bullish than I’ve ever been about him staying behind the dish. It looks like the Yankees might carry three catchers on their big league roster, which would give them the flexibility to catch Wells when the starting pitcher is good at holding runners and give him some run in left field on other days (he played left a little bit in college). This is a great way to get Wells’ feet wet as a big league defender while also getting his bat into the lineup regularly, but ideally he’ll improve enough as a thrower to simply be the primary catcher for the better part of the next half decade.

Often described on this website as “Baseball’s Zion Williamson,” Domínguez signed for $5.1 million in 2019 as easily the toolsiest player in his signing class, a plus-running center fielder with huge switch-hitting power. In a bodily sense, he was also unlike any amateur prospect most scouts had ever seen. Built at age 16 like a late-20s Mike Trout, nobody was totally sure how Domínguez’s body and physicality would develop as he entered his 20s, and this (plus the internet hype) was what made him similar to Zion. Domínguez’s pro career got off to a delayed start because of the pandemic, which clouded the outlook for his hit tool even more than is typical for a risky amateur prospect like this. After some initial struggles in 2021, especially from a contact standpoint, Domínguez quickly climbed through the minors and reached the big leagues late in 2023 as a 20-year-old. He showed his trademark power during an eight-game stint before his UCL blew out. He had Tommy John late in September and is slated to miss nine or 10 months, which puts him on pace to return in June or July of 2024.

Domínguez’s impact power is the tool that floats his prospect boat. He has incredible strength and bat speed for a hitter his age, and he’s forecast here to slug enough to make up for other ills. Domínguez is not yet an especially comfortable or smooth outfield defender, and he doesn’t have great feel for the barrel from either side of the plate. Which of Domínguez’s skills should we continue to project on? I don’t want to project on his power as much as I normally might for a 20-year-old because his frame is already maxed out. In fact, Domínguez’s bulkiness makes me want to project a near-term regression in foot speed. If Domínguez is going to be an impact player, then his feel for either center field or for contact needs to improve. I think the former is more likely, considering how few reps he’s had there in pro ball. It will be important for Domínguez to stay as lithe and fast as possible during his TJ rehab to give him a better chance of remaining at a premium position, where his rather extreme power-over-hit skill set has the best chance to profile.

Arias’ 2022 DSL performance was terrifying. After signing for $4 million in January of that year, he hit just .194 and struck out 32.9% of the time while dealing with a hand injury. His 2023 on the complex was much better, as Arias hit .267/.423/.505 in 27 games before he was shut down due to a broken finger. This is a power-hitting shortstop prospect with a below-average hit tool. Arias swings with bad intentions. He has premium bat speed and is looking to do big damage with each healthy hack. He is also a skilled and acrobatic shortstop defender with fantastic actions and arm strength. Those tools in concert with one another give Arias a good shot to be an impact player even though his style of hitting will likely limit his rate of contact. Arias has a classic, low-ball lefty swing (he only had 12 PA as a right-handed batter in 2023) and is vulnerable to rise-and-run heaters in the top half of the zone. Because of his injuries, he’s had very few actual in-game reps to make adjustments in this regard, and it’s plausible his hit tool will polish with time and experience. Expect Arias to track like Ronny Mauricio, a big-framed, switch-hitting shortstop with power and strikeouts.

Hampton’s fastball sat just 91-94 mph during his walk-prone (draft-eligible) sophomore year in Lubbock, but he still struck out 72 batters in 56 innings on the quality of his secondary stuff. He was shut down after the 2022 draft and debuted during 2023 big league spring training with much more velocity than he had previously shown, which he proceeded to maintain across 106.2 innings this season. Hampton blew away Sally League hitters (40.5% K%) in the first half of the year before he seemed to lose his legs a little bit in a second half spent at Double-A Somerset. His line to the plate became less consistent, the timing of his fairly long arm stroke wavered, and he had some walk-prone starts in the mid-to-late summer. It’s still pretty amazing that Hampton was able to sit 93-96 for much of the season (more 92-95 late) as he basically doubled his previous career innings high.

Hampton’s arm action is pretty reliever-y and long, but because of the way his fastball plays, he doesn’t have to have pinpoint command in order to remain a starter. His well-located fastballs work uphill with plus riding life, and Hampton is competent enough at peppering the top half of the zone with the pitch to project as a starter. The heater is one of a troika of offerings Hampton has to miss bats, along with a 12-to-6 hammer curveball and a mid-80s two-plane slider. He’ll be able to get ahead of hitters the second and third time through the order with his curveball and cutter, and then finish guys with high fastballs.

I suppose there’s still some amount of risk here, as Hampton has only really thrown consistent strikes for two months of his collegiate and minor league career. It’s possible he ends up on a trajectory like Clarke Schmidt‘s, where it takes him a while to establish himself as a part of the rotation, but I think the way Hampton’s fastball plays will mask some of his imprecision. He projects as a contender’s mid-rotation starter and he could debut in mid-to-late 2024.

Warren yo-yo’d between the bullpen and the rotation at Southeastern Louisiana and went unselected as a true junior in the shortened 2020 draft. He moved into the Lions’ rotation in 2021 and had a great season — 91 IP, 95 K, just 98 baserunners allowed — despite sitting mostly 90-91 mph. The Yankees shut him down for the post-draft period of 2021, and when play began in 2022, Warren had a new breaking ball and much more velocity, which he has sustained across the last two seasons at Somerset and Scranton.

Even though he isn’t on their 40-man roster, Warren is arguably in a better position to crack the Yankees’ 2024 rotation than other pitchers who are. He has a better track record of strike-throwing and recent health than Luis Gil or Clayton Beeter, and should be considered a threat to make the Opening Day rotation. Warren checks every scouting box aside from the one in the “pretty delivery” column. His cross-bodied mechanics and head whack are more violent-looking than is ideal, but Warren has now sustained good stuff across anywhere between 90 and 130 innings in each of the last three years, evidence he can succeed despite this delivery. His repertoire has grown to five useful pitches, with the best two being his heavy sinker, which has periods where it’s parked in the 94-95 mph range, and his sweeper-style slider, which moves similarly to Blake Treinen‘s. These two pitches diverge horizontally in a way that gives hitters fits. Warren’s sweeper garnered swinging strikes at an incredible 20% clip in 2023, and his sinker generated a 67% groundball rate. Warren also has a four-seam variant that he runs up the ladder as a chase pitch, and he has an upper-80s cutter that has become a more useful way to attack lefties than his middling changeup, which has a good bit of movement but is too similar to his sinker’s shape and velocity to be very disruptive. There might be room for growth in the offspeed/changeup realm for Warren yet; some of his best cambios are the ones that cut on him and look more like splitters. A true splitter might give him a dynamic swing-and-miss weapon versus lefties, which he currently lacks. Otherwise, Warren does a little bit of everything. His pitch mix compares closely to Joe Musgrove’s (his command isn’t quite that great) and, similarly, Warren profiles as a big league ready, mid-rotation starter.

The son of a former big leaguer, Lombard has a well-rounded collection of present tools and skills, as well as long-term physical projection that might lead some of those tools to be plus. As a high school hitter he showed deft and skilled hitting hands that produced in-game doubles power to both gaps. He was also an elegant and smooth defender, and played all over the infield during pre-draft showcases because of the presence of other shortstops on the Southeast regional teams’ rosters. He has the range, feet, hands, and actions to develop as a shortstop in pro ball. Barely 18 years old on draft day, Lombard’s frame is still maturing and, especially now that he’ll have been on a pro strength program, he stands a good chance to grow into meaningful power. Lombard could stand to have more a dynamic lower body and use the ground better when he swings, but the Yankees have helped hitters like Anthony Volpe improve in this regard. Changes to Lombard’s swing and/or physicality should be keyed on as precursors to a breakout. His defense and hit tool foundation, combined with the chance he grows into pop, makes him a potential everyday infielder.

Lalane was born in the Bronx and is a dual citizen of the United States and the Dominican Republic. His father played basketball at St. Francis College and Lalane accrued experience at PG tournaments in the US when he was a child. He didn’t commit to pitching until he was 14-years old. A half decade later, Lalane dominated the complex level across a meager 21.1 innings in 2023, with 34 strikeouts and just four walks. He made about a start per week throughout July and most of August, working three or four innings at most. That’s important context through which to view Lalane’s impressive stuff, and an important thing to know as it pertains to his developmental timeline. The Yankees have two seasons to get him in position for a 40-man add (he’s Rule 5 eligible after the 2025 season), and he has a real shot to earn a spot immediately. That means upping his innings count considerably over the next two years (we can probably ballpark Lalane at something like a combined 45 innings between extended spring/FCL/backfield work in 2023) to get him in position to be a rosterable 40-man guy at age 21.

We’re going to learn a lot about Lalane’s ability to handle that in 2024, when he’ll likely go to full-season ball for the first time. His fastball averaged 93-94 mph on the complex and he tended to live in the 91-95 mph range during his longer outings. There are a lot of young A.J. Puk (body) and Dax Fulton (everything) similarities happening here. Lalane has advanced strike-throwing ability across his repertoire. His delivery is balanced and graceful for an athlete his size, his whole operation hurdles his body toward the plate, and he routinely locates his fastball and changeup where he wants. At this size, it’s plausible Lalane could continue to throw harder as he gets stronger, and he’s probably going to need to in order to have a bat-missing fastball because, like Fulton, the downhill trajectory of Lalane’s fastball causes it to play down. His entire skill set is more about feel and command than nasty pure stuff right now. I’m projecting that there will eventually be a finishing breaking ball here because the ball doesn’t pop out of hand from Lalane’s release point, but for now, he just has a looking-strike curveball. In a typical draft, a guy like Lalane is going in the comp round or early second, with Fulton acting as a fantastic barometer in this regard, and I have his FV grade centered in that area. His ceiling is going to be dictated by the velocity he can develop during the next two years or so.

One of the top prospects in the 2023 international class, Mayea signed with New York for $4.3 million and spent his first pro season in the DSL, where he slashed .276/.382/.400. Mayea looked like a speedy, glove-first center field prospect in his debut season. His footwork in the box is often poorly timed and Mayea’s hands load deep and late, causing him to push an inordinate amount of contact the opposite way. It’s not a terrible place to start, but there does have to be adjustment and improvement in this area for Mayea to be an impact offensive player. His speed and defense are both plus, as Mayea puts down some jailbreak times in the 4.1s, and his reads and routes are decisive and polished. Based on his current look, Mayea may end up being more like Albert Almora or Manuel Margot than a power-hitting, do-everything star, but it’s still early.

Vivas came over via trade from a Dodgers org that needed to clear 40-man space for Shohei Ohtani. There are a number of very young infield prospects in the Yankees system similar to what Vivas looked like at the same age: a Lilliputian second baseman with a promising hit tool and modest power projection due to their size. He is coming off a season where he slashed .280/.391/.436 at Double-A Tulsa prior to a late-season swoon at Oklahoma City. Vivas is still short but he’s no longer small, as over the last couple of years his back, shoulders, arms, and thighs have all buffed up to an impressive size. This has resulted in a modest uptick in power, and after Vivas hit just two total homers in his first couple of pro seasons, he’s reached double digits in each of the last three. But Vivas’ skill set is still rooted in his bat-to-ball skills, which are enhanced by his compact swing and short-levered stature. He’s a dynamic in-the-box athlete who swings really hard but still makes a ton of contact, running an 88-89% in-zone contact rate each of the last two seasons. While he has experience at both second and third base, Vivas’ arm strength is not typical of a big league left side infielder. Without positional versatility helping to carry him to a big league role, he looks more like a second-division second baseman who’d perform at a 1.5-ish WAR clip across a whole season of at-bats. He is stacked behind Gleyber Torres and Oswald Peraza on the Yankees depth chart, though he could be a lefty-hitting platoon partner for DJ LeMahieu if the Yankees feel the need to shake things up at third base.

Lagrange is one of several huge-framed young pitchers in this system, and he’s the one who has the nastiest present stuff. He’s among the hardest throwers in the entire org (half a tick behind Jonathan Loáisiga) and some of his 80-84 mph curveballs have absurd two-plane break. Lagrange’s fastball/curveball combo is already good enough to play toward the back of a bullpen, where he’s got a good chance of ending up because of mechanical inconsistency. It’s common for young pitchers of this size to have command issues, and Lagrange should be given as much time as possible to develop a deeper repertoire and better control. He and the Yankees have time, as Lagrange’s default 40-man timeline puts him on track for a 2027 debut. With two dynamic pitches on board, the middle of Lagrange’s outcomes look like Hunter Harvey or Bryan Abreu. If he develops better feel for and control of his body, he stands a chance to be an impact starter.

In part because of the pandemic and the crowded field of catchers at the level above him, it took Ramirez four years to exit rookie ball, which he did emphatically in 2023. He slayed the Florida State League for two months before back-to-back one-month stints at High-A Hudson Valley and Double-A Somerset to close out the year. Ramirez’s offensive performance tapered off with each subsequent promotion and his defense remains a bit unkempt. His receiving around the edge of the zone and raw arm strength are both fine, but Ramirez is currently pretty bad at picking balls in the dirt, and his slow exit from his crouch drags his pop times down into an average range. He isn’t ready to be a big league defender just yet, but he isn’t so bad to that I’m projecting him to first base. This is still a young catcher with rare power at a position where players tend to break late. He needs to stop chasing sliders and pulling off ones that finish on the outer edge of the plate; Ramirez’s performance against sliders was his biggest problem after arriving in Somerset. If he can improve in this regard, Ramirez has a bat-first backup catcher’s floor and enough offensive talent to carve out a larger role where he also gets a start or two at DH every week. He’s now on New York’s 40-man roster, which is crowded with catchers, making it likely he spends all of 2024 developing his defense in the minors.

Serna signed in 2019 but his affiliated pro career didn’t begin until 2021. He’s a career .273/.371/.447 hitter in the low minors and has always been a little old for the level, though that began to change in 2023 when he clubbed 19 homers in 95 Low-A games and ended the year with a month at the age-appropriate High-A Hudson Valley.

Serna is only listed at 5-foot-6, but he’s long and sinewy, and he swings incredibly hard for such a small player. He also moves the barrel around the zone with uncommon feel for someone who swings with this much effort and verve. There’s some chase-driven risk here. Serna is swing-happy in any count, but he gets especially antsy in two-strike counts, when he chases over 40% of the time.

Like a lot of other interesting position player prospects in New York’s system, Serna’s arm strength will likely limit him to second base at the highest levels. If his swing decisions prevent him from being an everyday second baseman, any kind of versatility would make Serna more rosterable as a utilityman; he’s gotten quite a few left field reps in Mexico this winter. Despite his size and age, I like Serna’s power projection more than most of the other little middle infielders in the system because of his build and the ferocity with which he swings. He’s got a puncher’s chance to be an everyday second baseman, but he’s more likely a Dylan Moore type of role player.

Among the Yankees’ deep and exciting group of 2023 DSL prospects was Edgleen, a twitchy catching athlete with a quickdraw release and advanced bat-to-ball skill for a 17-year-old. Perez has the hands and lateral quickness to develop as a receiver and a ball-blocker over time, and he has impact arm strength. He also looks a good bit bigger and stronger than his official height and weight (5-foot-10, 155 pounds) suggests, and he could still be growing; Perez won’t be 18 until May. Teenage catchers are a risky prospect demographic, and the Yankees have tended to let a lot of their youngest DSL prospects stay down there for two years, so we may not see Edgleen stateside in 2024. Even if we do, he’s very likely on a slow-burning developmental fuse. Were he part of the 2024 draft’s high school contingent (maybe not the best group to use as a litmus test, but stay with me), Perez would be in the mix for second round money. He has a good chance to do a little bit of everything and be a primary catcher way, way down the line.

Arias pitched so well in his second DSL season that the Yankees promoted him to the Florida complex in August. He struck out 35 hitters in his first five DSL starts combined, often working five or six innings, then Arias’ workload tapered off as the summer wore on. He throws quality fastball strikes in the 92-94 mph range and has advanced feel for dotting his upper-70s bullet slider on the corner of the plate. You can dream on Arias’ fastball velocity and changeup quality because of his spindly build, relative youth, and the overall fluidity of his mechanics. Arias will enter 2024 the age of a college sophomore, poised to spend most of the year in extended spring/FCL action. He’s a malleable and exciting young pitching prospect.

Marte has a rare combination of pitchability and projection, especially for a pitcher who is this long and tall. He has now had two consecutive DSL seasons in which he has walked fewer than 8% of opposing hitters. This is an ultra-lanky, open-striding righty with a tailing low-90s fastball. There is so much room for strength on Marte’s frame that I’ve gassed up his fastball projection more than I normally would for most pitchers. He already has feel for creating tailing action on his changeup with regularity, and his breaking ball feel is pretty good. If he starts throwing harder, both the fastball (duh) and slider are going to get better as a result. He has a starter prospect’s pitch mix and control, and a fairly high ceiling because of his potential to throw harder.

I have fairly substantial concerns about Pereira’s hit tool and long-term physical projection, which is why I have him evaluated less enthusiastically than what readers may have anticipated. Pereira has struck out at a nearly 30% clip his entire minor league career. He swings hard and has plus power already at age 22, but his hands aren’t particularly deft or precise, and his swing is kind of stiff and clunky in a way that leaves him vulnerable to several common pitch-type and location combinations (especially fastballs up, and including lots of sliders that don’t quite turn the corner). Because we’re talking about a left field-only defender, the offensive margin for error here is pretty slim. Will Pereira be able to consistently get to enough of his power in games to be a valuable contributor, even if it’s just as the righty half of a corner outfield platoon? I buy that he could have an Aristides Aquino-style peak in him, but over time I expect that the issues with the hit tool will make him tough to roster. You could point to Pereira’s early-career loss of reps due to injury and the pandemic (he signed in 2017, and by the end of 2021 had played just 109 games) as a context-driven reason to project on his hit tool. That’s reasonable. But Pereira’s tightly wound, muscular build is relatively maxed out for a 22-year-old and I think there’s a chance he stiffens and slows sooner than is typical, so even if his hit tool levels up, his peak window might end up being short for a totally different reason. With the Yankees’ current roster, Pereira, who got a 27-game cup of coffee in 2023, has a chance to earn an extended big league opportunity in 2024. Still, I think it’s much more likely that Oswaldo Cabrera bounces back and claims left field for his own, or that the optionless Estevan Florial (whose swing looked different late in 2023) gets a longer initial look than Pereira, or that Austin Wells can’t catch and ends up entrenched in left field, than I think it is that things will click for Pereira.

After his arm strength and ability to throw strikes waxed and waned in high school, Selvidge has now thrown a good rate of strikes for two pro seasons,and he pitched a whopping 127.2 innings in 2023. There were spurts when Selvidge would sit 94 mph, but he’s quickly become a kitchen sink lefty who sits 91. He’s a very tough at-bat for lefties because of his decptive arm swing and the length of his slider, he can mix things up with a cutter in basically any count, and he has feel for a firm, sinking mid-80s changeup. Aspects of Selvidge’s delivery look a little strange, but he’s a strapping lad built for a full-season grind. He could be a deceptive long man or fifth starter.

Beeter spent most of his college career either injured or in the Texas Tech bullpen until he came out of the gate as a Red Raiders starter in 2020. Prior to the shutdown, he was not only electric, sitting in the mid-90s with two plus or better breaking balls, but he was also throwing strikes for the first time in his life. His stuff and command have backed up a bit since then as the Dodgers and Yankees (Beeter was the prospect return for Joey Gallo) have deployed Beeter as a starter en route to a post-2023 40-man roster add.

Beeter’s delivery is stiff and his release is inconsistent, generating relief projection here for the last several years. He tilts out to create a vertical arm slot that helps impart the carry on his fastball (which often sails to his arm side) and the depth on his two breaking balls (which he actually has a better feel for landing in the zone than his heater), but Beeter has never had great feel for release and has run double digit walk rates for basically his entire career. He’ll likely serve as a short-outing spot starter in 2024, but over time I expect Beeter to shift to a bullpen role. If his peak arm strength returns when such a move occurs, then Beeter could have late-inning stuff. Right now, though, he looks like a low-leverage roller coaster with poor control.

Gil was acquired in the one-for-one Jake Cave trade with Minnesota back in 2018 simply because Cave was getting squeezed off the Yankees roster. At that juncture, Gil was a hard-throwing lottery ticket with a velvety smooth delivery and projectable frame, but he had such crude feel for release that he likely profiled in relief. Gil has since developed a good slider and his strike-throwing was fine enough that he traversed the minors and made his big league debut as a starter, but his control (especially of his fastball) realistically only fits in the bullpen. Gil had Tommy John in late May of 2022 and missed almost all of 2023, returning for two Tampa rehab starts in September. The timing of the surgery makes it very difficult for Gil to rebuild starter’s innings before he runs out of options years, even though the Yankees were given an extra one due to his injury. Gil sat 94-97 mph during his two two-inning September outings and looks ready to contribute to the 2024 Yankees bullpen, though he’ll probably need to throw strikes in front of Aaron Boone for a while before he’s trusted in big spots.

Persistent injuries have kept Gómez from establishing himself as a consistent part of the Yankees big league pitching staff. His 2023 malady was shoulder tendinitis that kept him shelved until late May. When Gómez returned, his stuff appeared intact and he sat 92-96 mph throughout the back half of the year. Unless the Yankees have been given an extra option year due to Gómez’s injury history, he’s out of them, and is therefore likely to be moved to the bullpen relatively soon. Gómez’s 2023 walk rate was unusually high, and historically he’s had both the repertoire depth and enough control to start. His fastball has uphill angle, he has three relatively distinct breaking balls, and Gómez will show you the occasional changeup. This pedigree should enable him to work multiple innings in low- and medium-leverage relief.

Delgado is a versatile, undersized, switch-hitting infield prospect with a fantastic rookie ball performance track record, as he’s slashed .301/.459/.495 across the DSL and complex levels as a pro. The game moves much slower for him than for most of the players around him. He isn’t as toolsy as some of his surface stats (like his stolen bases) might suggest; instead, he is much more polished and skilled than the typical rookie-baller. He is similar to a scaled down version of Brayan Rocchio at the same stage, wielding bat control and baseball feel beyond his years. Delgado has mostly played second base and shortstop while striking out a paltry 12% of the time. The recipe for his contact success is one part bat control, one part Delgado’s short levers (which help enable a pull-heavy style), and one part sentient approach, as he cuts his big leg kick with two strikes. He’s put together well for such a small athlete, and I think he’ll eventually be strong enough to compete at the big league level, but he probably won’t be strong enough to be an impact player. There are other athletes who are a cleaner fit at shortstop tracking along with him (Hans Montero, Roderick Arias), so it might be tough for Delgado to get reps there. He has a puncher’s chance to become a César Hernández-type of everyday second baseman, but a modest utility outcome is more likely.

Riggio became famous when he committed to UCLA ridiculously early (he was in eighth grade). He didn’t end up a Bruin and instead matriculated to Oklahoma State, where he hit very well for two years as he embraced a sort of grinder/heel persona. He ended up slashing .316/.438/.601 in two seasons for the Cowboys, then struggled in too small a sample to care about after the draft. Lefty-hitting infielders with this kind of bat speed are uncommon, and Riggio is no slouch as a defender, either, even though he is likely limited to second base. A lack of plate coverage and barrel control is a byproduct of the effort with which Riggio swings. While he sports hit tool risk, there are some Rougned Odor similarities here, though a Kody Clemens and Cavan Biggio type of role is probably more likely.

Carr left San Diego after what scout sources indicate to be “attendance issues” at USD. He certainly found a new gear on the field at Palomar where, toward the end of the 2023 season, he was touching 97 mph and holding 93-95 deep into starts. He is similar to Jojo Romero, a plus on-mound athlete with a shot to develop three average-or-better pitches and work as a starter despite lacking traditional starter’s size. Carr has the makings of an above-average slider and average changeup. In part because he had a Tommy John in high school, Carr has accrued very few competitive reps to this point. His balance and grace over his blocking leg is remarkable, and he works pretty easy for an athlete his size with his level of arm strength. Carr is a good developmental pitching prospect who you could argue was one of the best handful of lefty college pitchers in the very thin 2023 draft.

Gomez again made no progress on offense in 2023; in fact, his chase and strikeout rates got worse. He’s still such a wonderful catching defender in basically all facets (his ball-blocking has improved since his report was last updated) that I continue to have him projected as a backup, but he now profiles as a “low variance” prospect because I don’t think the bat will ever develop enough for him to be more than that.

The younger brother of Giants swingman Tristan Beck, Brendan was an ultra-efficient five-pitch starter at Stanford who signed for just over $1 million as a second round pick in 2021. A Tommy John late in 2021 cost him all of 2022 and the first chunk of 2023, after which Beck’s trademark pitchability allowed him to dominate second half Sally League hitters. It’s possible that the Yankees can do with Beck what has been done with Shane Bieber and Tanner Bibbee: take a soft-tosser with special command and help him throw harder. That hasn’t happened yet, and Beck was sitting his usual 90-92 mph coming out of TJ rehab. His slider will likely play as an impact pitch because of his command, but the rest of Beck’s stuff is pretty light, and he may be homer-prone against big league power. His curveball and (less often) his changeup are both easy out-of-hand IDs due to release variation, which I expect will get better the further Beck gets from his TJ. Beck’s superlative control makes him a high-floored starting pitching prospect, and if he only ever sits 90-92, he fits as a sixth or seventh starter.

Serna worked just shy of 20 innings on the complex after returning from a shoulder injury that cost him the first half of the year. He is a very advanced, strike-throwing teenage pitching prospect who lacks prototypical physicality. Serna’s fastball is parked in the 91-94 mph range and often has 18-20 inches of induced vertical break. His best secondary is a side-spinning, screwball-style changeup, which has roughly 15 mph of velocity separation from his fastball. He also has a fair 78-82 mph slider, which should play fine because of his command. It’s tough to project on Serna’s velocity because of his lack of size. He’s young, but he hasn’t thrown more than 40 innings in a season yet, and not only might it be tough for such a small athlete to throw meaningfully harder, but it might be difficult for Serna to sustain his current stuff under a 120-inning load. Unless his arm strength develops in an unexpected way, he isn’t a high-ceiling prospect. Instead, he’s the rare low-variance teenage pitching prospect whose fastball’s underlying traits, and Serna’s command to weaponize it, should lead to a fifth starter role.

Terrero is a stocky, contact-oriented middle infielder who posted a 146 wRC+ in the DSL. He tracks pitches beautifully, he’s strong for his size, and he executes a pull-and-lift approach that allowed him to hit seven homers, tied for 11th in the league. Terrero’s underlying contact metrics (70% contact%, 13% swinging strike%) paint a less pretty picture of his hit tool than his visual scouting report, but the data reinforces the notion that his plate discipline is going to be a water-carrying skill. I love the heuristics of his profile (short-levered switch-hitting middle infielder) and think he has a pro athlete’s physicality even at his size. It might not be correct to call him one of this system’s more important “sleepers” to follow because his 2023 statline made him notable, but that’s essentially the way he’s FV’d here.

Rice had one of the best surface-level statlines in the 2023 minor leagues as he slashed .324/.434/.615 across three levels, ending the season at Double-A Somerset. I was hoping to juice Rice more than this at the onset of the process for this list, but I left my film study of his defense feeling extremely bearish about his ability to stay behind the plate. There is still big time lefty bat speed here, enough to make Rice interesting as a bat-only prospect. The ferocity in his swing and the strength and flexibility in his lower half are all exciting, and Rice might end up having a two or three year peak in the mold of a Jared Walsh or Justin Bour, or perhaps be deployed the way Blake Sabol was in 2023.

Benitez had elbow surgery in the middle of the summer of 2022 and didn’t pitch at all in 2023. He was one of the biggest and hardest-throwing teenagers in the 2022 DSL, where Benitez sat 93-95 mph throughout a 17-inning season. His fastball has extreme downhill plane because of his height and it’s hard to tell how that angle will play against better hitters. His changeup, which has sinking action that plays nicely with his pitches’ downhill plane, is his best secondary right now, but Benitez is still in the very early stages. He’s an important guy to look for on New York’s extended spring roster in the event that he’s taken a leap coming out of his rehab.

Mendoza has perhaps the best present stuff of any Yankees pitcher who spent 2023 on the complex, but he also walked nearly a batter per inning and profiles solely in relief. The loose-bodied righty pumps exploding mid-90s gas from a low three-quarters slot and has a gyro-style slider that plays well off of his heater. Assuming Mendoza can corral his mechanics, he projects as a solid middle reliever.

Added to the Yankees 40-man roster in November, Narvaez is poised to be their third or fourth catcher entering 2024, depending on how the Trevino/Rortvedt situation works out. The potential for big impact here is very low. While Narvaez has tended to perform a bit above the league average at each of his minor league stops, his vulnerability to high fastballs is rather extreme and big league pitchers will be able to get him out at will if they can execute heaters at the belt and above. Narvaez’s carrying tool is his incredibly quick release and accurate arm. He allowed steals at a 79% success rate in 2023 but the visual scouting report of his ability to control the run game is much more encouraging than those results even though his pure arm strength appears to be pretty generic. As a receiver and ball-blocker, Narvaez is only fair. He’s a competent defender who can punish a mistake breaking ball on offense, a skill set typical of a third catcher.

I’m still somewhat smitten with Vargas because of his acrobatic defense. His range and athleticism are remarkable, and he’s capable of rare defensive feats because of his talent and effort level, which was excellent late in 2023. Vargas is still plagued by chase and a lack of strength on offense. He needs to wind up his entire body just to swing hard, the baseball equivalent of Happy Gilmore’s golf swing. He’s still sinewy and lean like a high school defensive back, definitely behind where most 22-year-olds tend to be from a physical maturity standpoint. Most likely, Vargas is an emergency shortstop in the Sergio Alcantara mold. If he gets strong enough to shorten up his swing, he could be a more consistently rosterable bench infielder in his later 20s.

An undrafted free agent from Rio Hondo, a community college in California, Flores had a good first full season of pro ball in 2023. He is a big-framed, athletic 1B/C who has improved substantially as a catching defender during the last year and a half. This is especially evident in Flores’ throwing. Some of his pop times hovered around 1.80 seconds late in 2023, and he could stand to leave his crouch earlier to come close to that benchmark more consistently. Flores has also gotten better at framing pitches around the edge of the strike zone, and he has prototypical size and athleticism for a steady, durable catcher, though he still played more first base than catcher in 2023. It’s imperative Flores continues to develop as a defender because his bat is only fair. Flores’ feel to hit is undercooked but, as you can imagine given his size, he has all-fields mistake power. It’s common for catchers to develop into their mid-to-late 20s and debut on a bit of a delay (like Kyle Higashioka) and that’s the track Flores looks to be on.

Alejandro’s measurables aren’t a typo — he’s a massive and fairly athletic teenage pitching prospect with a heavy low-90s sinker that routinely touches 95 mph. He also has a promising two-plane slider. This is not a traditionally projectable pitching prospect. Alejandro is already pretty filled out, but he’s so young that there might yet be more arm strength here just via maturity. Alejandro isn’t a premium on-mound athlete, but he does have impressive feel for release for a pitcher his size and age. The middle range of his outcomes probably puts him in the bullpen. On talent, Jerson belongs in the honorable mention section, but we’re talking about a guy with rare size and physicality and a potentially special arm, so he’s elevated slightly here.

A 2013 first round pick of the Marlins out of high school, Miami flunked Krook’s post-draft physical and he ended up at Oregon, where he struggled with walks. The Giants took him in the fourth round in 2016 and traded him to the Rays as part of the Evan Longoria deal after the 2017 season. He spent the next several years doing a mix of starting and relieving while with Tampa Bay, again struggling with walks and declining velocity (mid-90s at peak, upper 80s more recently) while still showing big sinking action on his fastball and changeup to go with big break on his slider. The Yankees made him a minor league Rule 5 pick in 2020 and returned Krook to the rotation for a while, then put him in the Scranton bullpen in 2023. While his command is still well below average, the length and depth of his slider makes it a plus pitch, and his upper-80s fastball sinks enough to keep it off barrels (he surrendered just 10 hits total in 34 minor league innings in 2023, a number he nearly matched in four big league frames) and generate a ton of groundballs; both pitches are aided by his funky delivery. He doesn’t throw strikes consistently enough to stick on an active roster permanently, but is still an optionable “look” reliever who can come up and give hitters fits.