August 5th, 2025: Chisholm, New Relievers, Gil, Wells, Prospects

On June 2nd, the Yankees had a 6.5-game lead in the AL East. On July 2nd, they lost and slipped into second place. On August 2nd, they lost and slipped into third place. The Yankees are 60-53 even though their run differential says they should be 66-47 and BaseRuns says they should be an MLB best 67-46. "The reality is, I think we should be better than what our record is and that starts with me. We got to own that,” Aaron Boone told Greg Joyce over the weekend. What the Yankees think and what run differential and BaseRuns say is irrelevant. You are what your record says you are, and the Yankees are a third place team that is closer to being out of a Wild Card spot (1.5 games up) than they are to being in second place (2.5 games back). If you have any confidence in this team putting together a hot streak at any point in these final two months, you’re a better fan than me. Let’s get to today’s post.

1. Weekend thoughts. What do you even say when the front office makes a bunch of moves at the trade deadline to get the roster (most of) the help it needs, and the team responds like this? It takes a lot for me to call a team or a player soft, but these Yankees are Charmin soft. Four straight losses since the trade deadline, including two gut-punches and a snoozefest. In the face of adversity, they wilt. That has been the case for years. Here are a few thoughts on the last few games.  

Jazz’s double play

I have watched an embarrassing amount of baseball in my life and never once have I seen a runner get doubled off first base on a pop up to second like Jazz Chisholm Jr. did Saturday. Here’s the play. I’m not a “pull him from the game” guy, but if there was ever a time to pull a player from the game and send your team a “get your heads out of your asses already” message, that was it. It was that egregious.

“No, it’s a guy trying to make a play,” Aaron Boone told Bryan Hoch when asked whether he considered pulling Chisholm. “I get it looks bad, and it’s a bad play, but it’s not a case of a guy that’s dogging it. He’s just trying to make a play. Just because it’s going bad right now and the world’s on fire, I’m not going to just take guys out for giving a crap.”

Boone and Chisholm explained it as trying to put pressure on Xavier Edwards, who Chisholm thought might let the ball drop so they could force him out at second and replace him at first with the slower Paul Goldschmidt. It’s a dumb play with an excuse that barely passes muster. If he drops it and you get forced out, then you get forced out. That is the consequence of a slow runner hitting a pop up to second with a fast runner on first.

“Just trying to be aggressive. I saw something that I thought they were going to do. (Edwards) deked like he was going to do it. He didn’t do it,” Chisholm told Hoch. “… I told (Boone) exactly what I just told you: I played here before (and know the turf), he deked it pretty well, like he was going to drop it. I saw him watching Goldy the whole time. I was like, ‘Maybe he might.’ I would want to get me off first base, too.”

Every game – every single game – something happens that leaves Boone saying “that can’t happen,” but it keeps happening. It’s missing the cutoff man. It’s throwing to the wrong base. It’s sloppy baserunning. It’s forgetting how many outs there are. It’s every single game. All the bullpen trades in the world won’t change the fact this is the stupidest and careless team in the history of the universe. 

The Yankees have to win on pure talent because their fundamentals and attention to detail are far below championship caliber. They’ve always been sloppy in the Boone era, but this is the sloppiest version yet, and these last few weeks have been their sloppiest ever. This is not all on Boone. It’s an organizational problem. It starts in the front office and in the minors, and carries up through the big league team.

Players talk constantly about controlling what they can control, and the Yankees aren’t good at the things they can control. Jazz getting doubled off first was under his control. Austin Wells forgetting how many outs there were was under his control. You can control not missing the cutoff man. You can control taking a proper slide. You can control holding the ball when there is no play to be made.

You can control your effort and your compete level, and these last few days the Yankees straight up looked like a team lacking the appropriate urgency given the standings and the calendar. Paul O’Neill even called them out on YES! Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez did the same on FOX. Former players are usually quick to defend the team, but three franchise legends called the Yankees out. How embarrassing for Boone and the organization.

This game is hard enough already, and the Yankees make it harder on themselves because they are bad at the things they can control, like making good decisions on the bases and in the field. To put it another way, they are bad at the things championship teams aren’t bad at. This is two months of crappy play now. At some point, this is who the Yankees are. They’re not doing a good job of convincing anyone otherwise.

“I wouldn’t say there’s concern, but I would say I think a little sense of urgency would be good for us going forward,” Ben Rice said after Sunday’s loss (video). “Just to continue to do what we can to win ball games, and that’s gonna be all the little things. Hopefully we sync up pitching and hitting, that’s it … As we continue to move deeper into the season here, in this playoff race, we’re gonna have to pick it up eventually.”

The new guys

Three days after the fact, what can you do other than laugh about Friday’s game? The Yankees traded for four new players on deadline day (Austin Slater was picked up one day earlier) and all four screwed up in their Yankees’ debut. It was like a script from a movie made specifically for Yankees haters. Three new relievers, three bad outings:

Not shown: José Caballero letting a ball get under his glove in right field, allowing the tying run to score in the ninth and sparing Camilo Doval’s ERA with two unearned runs. “I took my eyes away from the ball for a split second … I feel sad because it’s definitely a game that we could have won,” Caballero told Hoch. Caballero pinch-ran the previous half-inning and stole a base before scoring the go-ahead run, so it wasn’t all for him, but woof.

Jake Bird was the worst of the new relievers by a lot Friday. Five batters faced, one out, and all three batted balls had a 100 mph exit velocity. The Marlins were all over him. It seems Bird has two-pitches: middle-middle and way outside for an easy take:

“Just not executing the pitches to my ability,” Bird told Hoch. “I need to be better there. I will be better.”

David Bednar had a messy seventh inning trying to bail out Bird but was really good in the eighth, so it’s not like he got completely blasted in his debut. Doval gave up a line drive single and then walked the No. 9 hitter, which is unforgivable, then it was two ground balls that didn’t go his way. That will happen. Can’t be walking the No. 9 hitter though. Especially one making his MLB debut.

“It’s not how you draw it up,” Boone told Hoch about the bullpen meltdown. “Those guys are really good at what they do. It’s not the first time they’ve had a rough one. I fully expect them to bounce back.”

Friday was the first time the Yankees scored 12 runs in a nine-inning game and lost since August 12th, 1973. And yet, I feel immune to the heartbreak. The Yankees lost, the game was over, then I turned it off and went about the rest of my night. I’m not trying to be dramatic and say this team sucks and has so many horrible losses that I’m used to it. I guess it just gets easier to forget it and move on as you get older. That has served me well the last few weeks.

As much as I enjoy blaming anything and everything on Boone, what was he supposed to do Friday? He has to stop using Jonathan Loáisiga as a mid-inning fireman in high leverage situations given his issues this season and low strikeout rate (18.5%), but every reliever Boone brought into Friday’s game stunk. It is ultimately on the players to perform and Brent Headrick was the only reliever to perform Friday. 

The three new relievers combined for -1.51 win probability Friday. They were terrible. But do you know where the trouble started? It started with Carlos Rodón throwing 107 pitches and not completing five innings. Rodón took a no-hitter into the fifth! The retired the first eight batters he faced and then only six of the final 13. Seven of those final 13 batters saw at least six pitches. Only one saw as few as three pitches.

Rodón has walked five batters twice in his last three starts and it’s been tough sledding for a month now: 4.83 ERA (5.14 FIP) in five starts since July 1st. The Yankees were unable to bring in a starter at the trade deadline. They have two rookies in the rotation. Rodón called Friday’s performance “pretty unacceptable” and yeah, it was. Rodón has to tighten things up and get better. He’s way too important. Max Fried too. He was mediocre to bad again Monday. Fried and Rodón have been major letdowns lately.

“You’re like, ‘It's not fun.’ It's certainly not a good feeling,” Boone told Max Goodman about losing a game like Friday’s. “But you have to get over it, because today is too important and then tomorrow becomes too important. So it's one of those where you wake up and it's like, dang, that still happened. But there's also walking in here, some comfort in knowing that what we did at the deadline with fortifying our pen is real. Yesterday obviously did not go well, there's still a lot of confidence in what we have down there moving forward, and that flips my brain."

The Yankees have the resilience of a used Kleenex, so they followed Friday’s loss with a) complete duds Saturday and Sunday en route to getting swept by the Marlins for the first time ever, and b) another disastrous loss Monday. Really inspired stuff, guys. Friday’s loss, and specifically the way the Yankees lost, with all their new additions blowing it, was so bad that it’s comical. I’d say laugh it off and move on, but clearly the Yankees have yet to do that. 

Gil returns

Luis Gil made his season debut Sunday and looked very much like a pitcher who missed four months and threw only 14.1 rehab innings. His line: 3.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 3 K on 77 pitches. He was on an 80-ish pitch limit. Gil is not known for throwing strikes, so it’s hard to tell what’s rust and what’s Gil being Gil, but his fastball was all over the place, and the Marlins didn’t flinch at the slider or changeup.

“I wasn’t commanding how I wanted,” Gil said after his season debut (video). “But looking back, it was the first start in the big leagues since October of last year. I’m sure we’re going to be able to make the adjustments and keep working.”

Last year hitters missed with 29.0% of their swings against Gil, one of the highest marks in baseball and a touch better than guys like Paul Skenes (28.7%) and Corbin Burnes (28.6%), yet the Marlins missed with only five of their 31 swings Sunday, or 16%. The Marlins don’t strike out or swing and miss much as a team, but still, that’s a very low whiff rate for Gil. He’s clearly not close to midseason form.

Gil’s velocity and movement was in line last season (the spin on his slider was up almost 200 rpm, oddly), which is good news. Great news, really. It’s not like he came back missing 2 mph and with different pitch shapes. The stuff being back to last year’s level is more than half the battle. Now Gil has to build his pitch count and lock in his control, at least as much as he can. Again, strike-throwing is not his thing.

I’m encouraged Gil’s stuff is where it needs to be. He looks like he needs more “rehab” time to round into shape, but at least the stuff is there. The Yankees need it to be too. They didn’t get a starter at the trade deadline and they released Marcus Stroman, so there’s no safety net. It’s Gil, Fried, Rodón, Cam Schlittler, and Will Warren, and that’s it until Ryan Yarbrough returns (whenever that happens). Gil’s first start was bumpy. The Yankees can’t afford many more like that.

“I felt really, really good, and that’s what’s important,” Gil said after the game (video). “If you’ve got to take something positive from an outing, today health was big, coming back being healthy. But also the movement of the pitches was there.”

The no good, very bad Austin Wells

I made the mistake of getting excited about Wells this year, so blame me for his .209/.267/.415 (86 wRC+) batting line. That 86 wRC+ is comfortably below the catcher average (96 wRC+*) and his .229/.322/.395 (106 wRC+) line last year. Since June 13th, Wells is hitting .178/.222/.318 (46 wRC+) with 23.1 K% and 5.1 BB%. June 13th was the first game of the three-game sweep in Boston. Wells’ collapse at the plate has coincided perfectly with the Yankees’ tumble down the standings.

* It has been a great year for catchers, offensively. wRC+ positional splits go back to 2002 and that 96 wRC+ is the best on record. Usually it’s in the 85-90 wRC+ range. It’s not just Cal Raleigh. Drake Baldwin, Hunter Goodman, Will Smith, and others have been tremendous.

The biggest issue with Wells is the collapse of his plate discipline. He’s gone from an 11.4 BB% last year to a 6.5 BB% because he’s chasing much more often. It really is that simple in his case. Wells is chasing more often, which means he’s swinging at balls more often. He’s swinging slightly less in the zone, so it’s fewer swings at strikes too. Mostly though, the chases are the problem:

Wells’ under-the-hood numbers are right where they were last season. Exit velocity, barrel rate, pull rate, contact rates, etc. He’s getting the bat on the ball as often and hitting it as hard as last season. He’s just making much worse swing decisions. Wells is putting himself in bad counts by swinging at pitches he shouldn’t, he’s putting balls in play he can’t drive, and he’s not taking any walks. It’s all bad.

The contact quality being in line with last season leads me to believe Wells is healthy. He takes a beating behind the plate, every night it seems like there are 2-3 foul tips that make you think Wells will leave the game and miss time, but he is driving the ball like last year. Could it be fatigue? This is his first year as an undisputed starting catcher and he’s caught a lot. The numbers going into Monday:

• 710.1 innings caught (4th most in baseball)

• 80 starts at catcher (4th most in baseball)

• 85 games behind the plate (4th most in baseball)

• 11,708 pitches caught (5th most in baseball)

Wells has taken on this big workload despite this dumbass team carrying three (lefty hitting!) catchers on the roster most of the season. Maybe there’s fatigue, though I’m not sure that would show up in his swing decisions. I’m not sure why Wells is chasing more. I just know it’s happening, and his offense has gone in the tank the last few weeks. He’s been a zero at the plate for close to two months now.

Giving Rice more time behind the plate is a fine idea but also not really something the Yankees can do. They need him at first base, because Goldschmidt is unplayable against righties. Aaron Judge has to DH when he returns. It’s not like they can slot Judge (or Giancarlo Stanton) back into the outfield on an everyday basis, put Cody Bellinger at first base, and Rice behind the plate. Like it or not, Wells is the guy at catcher. 

Statcast has Wells as a top of the line framer, an above-average blocker, and an average-ish thrower. He is still really good defensively, hence +2.2 fWAR despite an 86 wRC+. I definitely did not foresee Wells becoming a no bat/all glove catcher. In theory, the Yankees have a good enough offense to carry a bad hitting catcher, especially once Judge returns, but Wells does have to hit. That’s part of his appeal. He was expected to bring thump from a position not known for it, and he hasn’t in a while now.

Miscellany

Not pinch-hitting Goldschmidt when he was guaranteed to get an at-bat against a lefty in the seventh inning Sunday, then pinch-hitting him when the Marlins could bring in a righty in the eighth sums up the Boone experience well. I’m not sure you could find a better example of a manager not putting his player/team in the best position to succeed. Bullpen and bench upgrades only work if the manager knows how to use the players available to him … Devin Williams blew the save Monday and has given up six runs (three homers) in seven innings since the All-Star break. That’s it. He can’t close anymore. These games are too important. Slot Bednar or whoever into the ninth. The Yankees can’t do what they did with Clay Holmes last year and just let Williams keep blowing games into September … Monday’s loss is on Williams more than anyone. One run game, you need your closer to close that out. Bird took the actual loss, though he did not give Josh Jung a big fat cookie for the walk-off homer. Jung got to an inside pitch and just beat him there:

Luke Weaver threw 11 stress-free pitches in the sixth inning earlier in the game. Why wouldn’t you send him back out for the seventh? Joe Girardi used to do this when the Yankees had their best bullpens under him. He was like a kid on Christmas morning who didn’t know what toy to play with, so he used all his relievers. Boone did that Monday. You could’ve gotten two innings from Weaver, saving Doval or Bednar for extra innings/tomorrow … Can’t complain about two runs on solo homers in five innings, but Schlittler has a breaking ball problem, and that problem is he can’t get them down in the zone. This seems to be something he had trouble with during his five Triple-A starts as well. Here are his breaking ball location heat maps:

Curveballs and sliders do not belong up in the zone and in the middle of the plate. Schlittler has 19 career starts above High-A. He’s not a finished product. These games do matter though, and releasing Stroman means the Yankees will rely on Schlittler the rest of the season. He’s gotta get his breaking balls down and the Yankees have to help him do it.

Injury updates

Judge (flexor) took BP with the team Friday and Saturday, then went to Tampa to get live at-bats Sunday and Monday. He rejoined the Yankees last night and is expected to be activated today. Austin Slater exited last night’s game with a hamstring issue and will go on the injured list, Boone confirms, so that's the roster move for Judge. These roster logjams always take care of themselves, eh? Judge is still a few days away from throwing, by the way … Loáisiga was placed on the 15-day injured list with back tightness Sunday. Phantom injuries aren’t nearly as common as fans think but the timing here is awfully convenient. I wonder if this is one of those things the Yankees would normally try to manage and let Loáisiga pitch through, and they instead said no, go on the injured list, rest up, and try to figure some things out on the side … Mark Leiter Jr. (knee) threw a scoreless inning in a Double-A rehab game Saturday and is expected to be activated soon, possibly as soon as today. Sending Headrick down is the easy move, though perhaps the Yankees cut ties with JT Brubaker to open a roster spot. We’ll see … Fernando Cruz (oblique) threw a touch-and-feel bullpen Friday. It went well. A full bullpen should be up next.

Roster moves

Loáisiga to the injured list opened the 26-man roster spot for Gil, who slid into the 40-man roster spot that opened up when Stroman was released. The 40-man is full. Jayvien Sandridge and Braden Shewmake are easily DFAable when a 40-man spot is needed, plus Ryan Yarbrough is a 60-day injured list candidate at this point. He’s been on the injured list for 46 days, and is just now beginning to throw bullpens. If needed, the Yankees have plenty of 40-man flexibility in the short-term … The Yankees signed Kenta Maeda to a minor league contract after he opted out of his deal with the Cubs. Maeda, 37, hasn’t been effective in two years now. The Tigers released him on May 1st and he spent the last few weeks in Triple-A with the Cubs, where he had a 5.97 ERA (5.20 FIP) in 57.1 innings. Seems like just a body for Scranton. With Gil and Schlittler in the big leagues and Carlos Carrasco in Atlanta, the Triple-A rotation is Brendan Beck, Sean Boyle, Erick Leal, Allan Winans, and TBD. Maeda will slot in as the TBD … The Yankees released Nicky Lopez and Andrew Velazquez over the weekend. I suspect they had Aug. 1st opt outs. Scranton’s middle infield is Shewmake and Jorbit Vivas now, though the Yankees have José Caballero, so they’re covered on the middle infield in the event of an injury … And finally, Bryan De La Cruz cleared waivers and went back to Scranton as a non-40-man roster player. He doesn’t have enough service time to elect free agency and keep his contract ($860,000 in MLB and $180,000 in the minors), so he’s sticking around. De La Cruz was DFAed to clear 40-man space as part of the trade deadline maneuvering.

Up next

The final two games of the road trip and this important series against the Rangers. Here’s what coming up between now and Friday’s post:

• Tuesday at Rangers: RHP Will Warren vs. RHP Nate Eovaldi (8pm ET on YES)

• Wednesday at Rangers: LHP Carlos Rodón vs. RHP Jack Leiter (2:30pm ET on YES)

• Thursday: off-day

If the Yankees get swept, the Rangers will pass them in the standings. The Mariners are playing the White Sox this week, so if the Yankees do get swept in Texas, there’s a real chance they return home Friday out of a postseason berth. I want this stupid team to win. Part of me is also morbidly curious to see how hard and how far the Yankees could fall before Boone gets the axe. Hal Steinbrenner didn’t put the World Series revenue back into the roster. The least he could do is use it to pay off Boone’s unnecessary extension.

2. Prospect thoughts. The Yankees traded 10 prospects at the deadline and the state of the farm system is such that RHP Tony Rossi, a 26-year-old undrafted free agent reliever with a 15.5 B%% in High-A, slots in as their No. 29 prospect, per MLB Pipeline. I’m all for trading prospects and I’m very glad the Yankees traded them for guys they can keep beyond this season. For sure though, the system is in rough shape, at least beyond the top few guys. Hey, if you don’t want to trade prospects for relievers at the deadline, you can simply not lower payroll after going to the World Series, and sign them in the offseason instead. Here are a few thoughts on a few prospects. 

Jones cutting down on whiffs

OF Spencer Jones had the audacity to not hit a home run last week. In fact, he’s in his first slump since being promoted to Triple-A: 4-for-20 (.200) with a double, two walks, and six strikeouts in six games last week. That has dragged his Triple-A line down to .360/.424/.810 (207 wRC+), and his season batting line down to .305/.402/.673 (193 wRC+). Here’s a fun leaderboard:

Minor League SLG (min. 300 PA)
1. Spencer Jones, Yankees: .673 SLG
2. Carlos Cortes, Athletics: .603 SLG
3. Rece Hinds, Reds: .592 SLG
4. Carlos Perez, Cubs: .584 SLG
5. Ryan Ward, Dodgers: .583 SLG
6. James Outman, Dodgers/Twins: .575 SLG

First, allow me to toot my horn and point out I signed Cortes as part of the Offseason Plan (the A's called him up two weeks ago). Second, I will note Jones and Hinds are the only two guys among those six not playing in the launching pad that is the Pacific Coast League. Hinds has played in the International League all year. Jones has spent roughly twice as much time in the Double-A Eastern League as in the International League.

Anyway, Jones is up to 25 games and 118 plate appearances with Scranton. Not a big sample, but it’s what we have. His contact quality is predictably excellent: 108.4 mph 90th percentile exit velocity and 113.4 mph max exit velocity. Both numbers put him in the top 5% of Triple-A hitters. And, as you know, the contact numbers are not good. Jones’ 71.5% in-zone contact rate is in the bottom 3% in Triple-A. It’s bad.

That said, Jones has improved his in-zone contact rate during his time in Scranton. I’m going to split his 25 games with the RailRiders into almost equal thirds:

• First 8 games: 63.2% in-zone contact rate

• Next 8 games: 73.3%

• Last 9 games: 78.7%

Hey, progress! The Triple-A average is an 81.1% in-zone contact rate (MLB average is 82.9%), so Jones is not even to league average yet, but 78.7% is way better than 63.2%. I don’t think anyone is expecting him to turn into Luis Arraez anyway. Jones with merely a below average in-zone contact rate rather than a catastrophically bad in-zone contact rate might hit 40 homers. 

It’s only 25 games in 118 plate appearances, so let’s not get carried away. Jones could go 2-for-27 with 16 strikeouts this week and it wouldn’t be the most shocking thing in the world. The arrow is pointing up though, definitely. Jones is making more contact as he’s spent more time in Triple-A, which is exactly what I and I’m sure the Yankees were hoping to see.

The catcher depth chart

It really is remarkable what the Yankees do with catchers. Within the last 12 months they’ve traded four quality catcher prospects (Rafael Flores, Carlos Narváez, Agustin Ramirez, Jesus Rodriguez), all of whom were in Triple-A at the time of the trade, and the Yankees still have Austin Wells and Ben Rice in the big leagues, and J.C. Escarra as a more than qualified third option on the depth chart. That's A LOT of upper level catchers.

(Yes, I know Wells has stunk lately. I just wrote about it a few sections ago.)

The Yankees traded these catcher prospects for quality, not spare parts. Flores went for David Bednar and Rodriguez went for Camilo Doval, two non-rental high leverage relievers. Ramirez brought Jazz Chisholm Jr. to the Bronx. The Narváez trade doesn’t look so hot, but Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz is one of the top pitching prospects in the system. It’s not like the Yankees turned Narváez into nothing.

Look how the Yankees acquired these guys too. Wells (1st round pick) and Ramirez ($400,000 bonus as an international signing) were the only significant investments. Rice was a 12th round pick. Flores was an undrafted free agent. Escarra was a minor league free agent. Narváez ($50,000) and Rodriguez ($10,000) were small bonus international signings, as was Edgleen Perez ($50,000). He was in the Bednar trade too.

(The Yankees also traded Jose Trevino, don’t forget.)

The Yankees had all these MLB-ready and near-MLB-ready catchers to trade this last year even though they have selected one – one! – catcher in the last four drafts. That was Tomas Frick, their 15th rounder in 2023. Other than Wells and Ramirez, the Yankees have not invested significantly in catcher prospects the last 5-6 years, yet they’ve had waves of Triple-A catchers to trade. It’s incredible, really.

Anyway, with Flores and Rodriguez (and Perez) traded, here’s the current catching situation throughout the organization:

• MLB: Rice and Wells

• Triple-A: Escarra, Edinson Duran, and Omar Martinez

• Double-A: Frick and Manuel Palencia

• High-A: John Cristino and Edison Vivas

• Low-A: Josue Gonzalez, Juan Sanchez, and Engelth Urena

Urena was my No. 28 prospect coming into 2025 and he’s a bat-first guy who hasn’t hit much: .208/.329/.331 (94 wRC+) with nine homers in 90 games. The best catcher prospect in the system now isn’t on that depth chart. It’s Dominican Summer Leaguer Queni Pineda, one of my Prospects to Know. He’s hitting .270/.459/.381 (129 wRC+) this year and said to be making progress with his defense.

Martinez and Palencia were bumped up a level following the deadline out of necessity, not because they’re legit prospects who earned a promotion. Palencia is in Double-A despite a 74 wRC+ in 16 career High-A games. Martinez has 24 career Double-A games with a 94 wRC+. With Palencia in Somerset, Hudson Valley has 19-year-old Vivas and 25-year-old Cristino behind the plate. Quite the age range.

The Yankees might bring in a new Triple-A catcher. Just a depth guy. Martinez didn’t tear up Double-A and Duran is an organizational guy who has never played in High-A or Double-A. He jumped straight from Low-A to Triple-A and has spent most of this year on the developmental list (i.e. tax squad). There’s bound to be a veteran fourth catcher journeyman type available somewhere for depth. (The Giants just released Austin Barnes. Maybe him?)

The only prospect of note in that depth chart is Gonzalez, a 21-year-old bat-to-ball guy who’s hitting .160/.300/.278 (73 wRC+) this year, so the bat-to-ball skills aren’t doing much for him. The catching pipeline definitely took a hit this last week. Unless Martinez or Palencia explodes, there won’t be any Triple-A catcher to trade in the offseason or at the deadline. A steady source of trade ammo has dried up, at least for a little bit.

Gomez makes pitching debut

C-turned-RHP Antonio Gomez made his pitching debut with Low-A Tampa last week. He’s appeared in two games and the second went much better than the first:

• July 29th: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 K

• Aug. 3rd: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (video)

In those 1.2 innings, Statcast has Gomez’s fastball averaging 99.3 mph and topping out at 101.2 mph. He also has a hard upper-80s slider that confuses the algorithm and sometimes gets classified as a cutter, giving you an idea of what the movement is like. Arm strength was always Gomez’s top tool behind the plate. It has clearly carried over to the mound (through a handful of pitches).

Gomez turns 24 in November and he will be a minor league free agent after the season. There’s always a chance he goes elsewhere, but the pitching thing seems promising enough. I hope Gomez and the Yankees can work out a new minor league contract and they continue to see this through next season. We’ll see. For now, Gomez has progressed to pitching in games, and the early returns are pretty cool.

2025 draft signings

The draft signing deadline was last Monday, July 28th, and the Yankees signed 18 of their 19 picks. Only 19th rounder RHP Hayden Morris did not sign. He might’ve been a “backup plan” pick, meaning that if the Yankees were unable to sign one of their overslot guys (8th rounder Mac Heuer?), they would’ve offered the money to Morris. Here is my draft recap and here are this year’s signings/bonus info:

Notice all those little $2,500 shortfalls. Kilby is $2,500 short of an even $2.8M, Jackson is $2,500 short of an even $150,000, etc. That’s an accounting trick. The uniform minor league contract includes a $2,500 bonus for showing up, basically. Teams have stopped reporting that as part of the overall signing bonus. The player still gets the money, but the team saves a little bonus pool space with fancy math.

Anyway, Jackson is a college senior, hence his massively underslot bonus. The savings went mostly to Kilby and Heuer, a draft-eligible sophomore with additional leverage. Baseball America says the Yankees have signed nine undrafted free agents. That last $24,680 might’ve been spent there. Like rounds 11-20, every dollar over $150,000 given to an undrafted free agent counts against the bonus pool.

The Yankees exceeded their bonus pool by 4.54%, just shy of the 5% threshold that kicks in increased penalties (forfeit a future first rounder, etc.). They’ll pay a 75% tax on the $244,500 overage, or $183,375. Total draft spending was $7,011,475 this year. That’s $6,828,100 in bonuses plus $183,375 in penalties. Thus concludes this year’s draft coverage.

Returns from injury

Several notable prospects have returned from injury in recent weeks. LHP Henry Lalane (shoulder), my No. 10 prospect, made his season debut on July 22nd. He’s made two starts: 5 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 5 K, 1 HR. No word on how his stuff has looked. The important thing is Lalane is back on the mound. Shoulder trouble has limited him to 17.1 innings the last two years … RHP Carson Coleman (elbow) returned to the mound a few weeks ago. The numbers are good in seven games: 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K. The former Top 30 Prospect missed the entire 2023 and 2024 seasons with Tommy John surgery and a setback, though he did collect a year of service time and big league pay with the Rangers last year. They took him in the Rule 5 Draft, he spent 2024 on the Major League injured list, then Texas sent him back this offseason … RHP Michael Arias (unknown) made his season debut on June 24th. He’s currently in the Double-A bullpen and has a 3.86 ERA (4.11 FIP) with 19.7 K% and 12.1 BB% in 14 innings. Arias was one of my Prospects to Know and he is on the 40-man roster. Seems like someone the Yankees might try to slip through waivers when 40-man cleanup times comes in November.

Miscellany

Through 72 games, George Lombard Jr. is hitting .206/.324/.332 (101 wRC+) with Double-A Somerset. The plate discipline has been alright (24.7 K% and 12.8 BB%) and he’s generally holding his own as a just turned 20-year-old in Double-A. Notably, his power is starting to show up. He had four extra-base hits in his first 31 Double-A games (two doubles and two triples) and he has 16 in his last 41 Double-A games (10 doubles, five homers, and a triple). Hopefully he finishes the year strong … OF Brendan Jones, last year’s 12th rounder, is already in Double-A, where he’s hitting .252/.354/.465 (140 wRC+) with seven homers in 46 games. He’s been even better the last few weeks: .313/.444/.625 (207 wRC+) with more walks (19.2%) than strikeouts (18.2%). Jones is playing his way into being a dude. He’s a lefty hitter who works the count, can pull a ball into the seats, run well, and play all three outfield spots … Not sure what the future holds for 1B T.J. Rumfield. He’s repeating Triple-A and mashing (.313/.396/.501 and 137 wRC+), though the contact quality doesn’t jump off the page, and he will be Rule 5 Draft eligible again after the season. Rice would seem to have the inside track on the first base job next year. Do the Yankees leave Rumfield exposed in the Rule 5 Draft? Put him on the 40-man and stash him in Scranton again? Trade him? I reckon they tried to do that already, but maybe there will be more interest after the season … LHP Kyle Carr, my No. 22 prospect, has morphed into a contact manager. His 2.30 ERA (3.91 FIP) in 94 High-A innings comes with a 20.9 K%, 10.5 BB%, 52.2 GB%, and 11.1% swinging strike rate. Not sure where the whiffs went, but missing relatively few bats in High-A ain’t great … Guy having a good year: LHP Geoffrey Gilbert. The 2022 13th rounder has a 2.51 ERA (2.74 FIP) with 33.6 K% and 11.2 BB% in 28.2 High-A relief innings. He missed most of last year with a non-Tommy John elbow surgery. It’s funky stuff more than power stuff, but Gilbert’s having himself a fine year … Eric Longenhagen has some info on OF Wilberson De Pena, who the Yankees received in the Oswald Peraza trade. He says De Pena is “posting a huge hard-hit rate” because he takes “big hacks and has a high finish, a la Miguel Andujar, driving both the power and some swing-and-miss.” Sounds like the standard Dominican Summer League position player lottery ticket … And finally, Triple-A Scranton is 23-4 in their last 27 games and are 25-7 in the second half. They’re a half-game behind Syracuse (Mets) for the division title and a postseason berth. Shaping up for a fun little Subway Series race for a postseason berth in Triple-A.

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