June 10th, 2025: Red Sox Series, Chisholm, Bullpen, Prospects

UPDATE: The Yankees announced Giancarlo Stanton is starting a rehab assignment with Double-A Somerset today. That's a nice surprise. I'm not sure how many rehab games he'll need, but he's been taking live at-bats in Tampa for over a week. Maybe Giancarlo will be back for this weekend's series in Boston? We'll find out soon enough.

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ORIGINAL POST: The YES Network debuted the YES drone Friday night and got some pretty sweet shots in and around Yankee Stadium (video). I dig it. I hope we see more of it in the future and it wasn’t just something they broke out for Yankees vs. Red Sox. Might have to wait until the Yankees return home next week to find out though. Anyway, let’s get to today’s post.

1. Weekend thoughts. I can’t be the only person who doesn’t care even a tiny little bit about this Hunter Dobbins thing. A guy on the Red Sox who grew up a Red Sox fan said he doesn’t want to play for the Yankees. Wow, how interesting. What’s next, he’s going to tell me he prefers lobster rolls to bagels? I was going to call it the lamest possible trash talk, but I can’t even call it trash talk. I say worse things about the Yankees in this space. Well, whatever. Here are a few thoughts on the last few days.

A bad weekend vs. Boston

This was the first series this year that made me mad. The Yankees scored 9, 7, and 7 runs in the three games against the Red Sox, plenty enough to win each night, but the pitching staff wasted two of those games. It was the bizarro 2025 Yankees – every pitcher except Devin Williams shit the bed. The Yankees rallied late Saturday and Sunday to make it interesting, then the bullpen put it out of reach. Frustrating.

“They had their hitting shoes on,” Aaron Boone told Bryan Hoch after Sunday’s loss. “They beat us here this weekend.”

The Yankees lost back-to-back games when scoring 7+ runs and already have four such losses this season. They had five all of last year. They had two in 2022. The Yankees are also 0-15 when they fall behind by three runs in a game this year. The Brewers (0-20) and Rangers (0-18) are the only other teams that haven’t come back to win a game when down three runs this season.

On one hand, falling behind by three runs only once every four games is pretty good! On the other hand, this team’s comeback-ability has been lacking. Part of it is the decision-making and part of it is the poor roster construction. On Sunday night alone we saw:

• Jasson Domínguez didn’t pinch-hit for DJ LeMahieu with the bases loaded in the sixth despite a guaranteed at-bat against a righty. LeMahieu grounded out.

• Domínguez didn’t pinch-hit for LeMahieu with two on in the eighth despite a guaranteed at bat against a righty. LeMahieu flew out.

• Lefty hitting Austin Wells pinch-hit for lefty hitting J.C. Escarra against lefty throwing Justin Wilson.

I know LeMahieu hit a home run earlier in the game Sunday, but he also hit into a double play earlier in the game and has a 55.3 GB%. The Yankees were down two runs in the sixth and four runs in the eighth, and needed a big swing. Domínguez is hitting .280/.370/.458 (135 wRC+) against righties and never got off the bench despite two – two! – opportunities to hit against righties with multiple runners on base.

One of the benefits of having more good players than lineup spots is there’s a good hitter on the bench available to pinch-hit each night, and then that guy didn’t get used in two obvious pinch-hitting spots. We have to sit here and pretend LeMahieu is back baby even while he puts the ball on the ground constantly and has the range of a potted plant at second base. The Yankees made such a big deal about improving their defense this year, and they’re willing to live with this at second base? Gleyber Torres got admonished for less.

The two lefty hitting catchers thing is beginning to go from clunky to detrimental, and it doesn’t help that the righty hitting catcher the Yankees had and could have easily plugged into roster this year had the big blow Sunday. Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz is a really good pitching prospect, but the Carlos Narváez trade is looking like a major stinker right now. He would have been a perfect complement to Wells. The Yankees got too cute by half and left themselves with an odd fit/less functional roster.

Boone asked Ryan Yarbrough to pitch a fourth inning even though he allowed six runs in the first three innings, and he gave up two more runs. He let Carlos Rodón face the righties in the middle of the Red Sox’s lineup even though his command was wavering and four of the five previous batters reached base, and Narváez homered. He asked Jonathan Loáisiga for a second inning, and he gave up two homers. Boone always pushes for that little bit more and it constantly bites him. Eight years of this now.

The offense did its part this weekend. They beat up on a bad pitching staff. This is now two weekends in a row though that the Yankees faced a top five offense (by runs scored per game) and the pitching staff top to bottom got smacked around. 29 runs in three games in Los Angeles last weekend, 27 runs in three games against the Red Sox this weekend. We can't blame that all on Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil being hurt.

I’m frustrated and I’m venting. Just to step back and look at the big picture, it’s one series loss in June. It’s not the end of the world. The pitching staff had a bad weekend and it won’t be the last time they have a bad weekend this year, and the Yankees still had a five-game lead in the loss column going into Monday. I just hate that two very winnable games slipped away. There have been way too many of those this year. This team is its own worst enemy.

70% of Jazz

Jazz Chisholm Jr. has five multi-hit games this season and three have come since he returned from the oblique injury last week. He hit a three-run homer in the first inning Friday (video). I was going to call it a torpedo bat homer because Chisholm golfed a ball below the zone into Monument Park, but it looks like he ditched the torpedo bat and is using a regular bat now:

Huh. I wonder what that’s about? Anyway, Chisholm explained Friday that he’s dialed it down from 100% to 70% since coming off the injured list, and playing more controlled. Assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler has been on him about it, and Jazz said his Double-A rehab assignment reminded him of when he was in the minors and he kept the game more simple. So, he’s come back a little more low-key.

“Coach Six (Roessler) said at 70%, I’m one of the best out there. At 100%, I might be dog crap. When you believe in something or it feels so right, you can’t go wrong with it,” Chisholm said (video). “… Taking my hits up the middle, like today. 1-0 changeup and hit a line drive up the middle. Earlier in the season, I was pulling off of that and hitting that foul or rolling over it because I was trying to hit a home run.”

In theory, we can measure this now. Dialing it down from 100% to 70% is something that could – could – show up in Chisholm’s bat speed and/or his attack angle, which is a new Statcast thing that just became available. Attack angle is the angle at which the bat strikes the ball (uppercut, level, etc.). Here are the numbers quick:

A much lower fast swing rate tells us Chisholm is swinging his hardest less often. His average attack angle/direction is the same – again, that’s the angle at which his bat meets the ball – but Chisholm has been in the 5-20 degree attack angle range more often. That’s the ideal range. That’s the angle at which the bat meets the ball and is most likely to produce line drives and fly balls. 

For what it’s worth, Chisholm’s line drive rate has jumped from 9.1% in April to 12.5% in May, which is still well below the 19.6% league average. Jazz is a fly ball guy. He had a 63.6% fly ball rate in April and it’s a 51.7% fly ball rate in June. The league average is only 38.8%. Chisholm hits the ball high in the air more than he does on a line, though he’s turned a few fly balls into line drives this month.

Is the bat-tracking data and line drive rate evidence Chisholm has toned down his swing? We can’t say that for sure. The guy hasn’t even played a full week’s worth of games since returning. Jazz is definitely a high energy player prone to overswinging though. Reining that in a bit could help, and I don’t mean becoming a slap hitter. He can take a more controlled swing and still hit for power. That’s what it looked like he did Friday.

Yarbrough’s stinker (and a thought on the bullpen)

Ryan Yarbrough has been a bacon-saver this season, and he’s made real improvements to his arsenal, but expecting him to continue with a 2-ish ERA as a starter was unrealistic. He had his first stinker of the year Saturday night: 4 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR on 67 pitches. A guy who has to live on the edges because he doesn’t have blow-you-away stuff was in the middle of the plate too much. That’s all there is to it.

“He wasn’t getting into those real defined spots on the plate with his different pitches. Maybe not his best cutter,” Boone told Hoch about Yarbrough’s outing. “He was a little bit all over in the zone. Not getting to those spots that he’s been so good at getting to. They put a lot of tough at-bats on him.”

Yerry De Los Santos did hero’s work after Yarbrough, soaking up three scoreless innings on 38 pitches. A was a bit surprised he wasn’t sent down for a fresh arm Sunday, though with a full bullpen behind Rodón and an off-day Monday, it wasn’t needed. 38 pitches across three innings isn’t a stressful outing. De Los Santos should be ready to go Tuesday. Shoutout to him for saving the bullpen Saturday.

De Los Santos and Mark Leiter Jr. gave the offense a chance to get back in the game, and it did! The Yankees clawed to within a run in the eighth inning before Ian Hamilton barfed all over everything. Four batters reached and two runs scored before he recorded an out, and that was that. Hamilton’s underlying numbers aren’t terrible (3.82 FIP and 3.71 xERA), but he’s not the guy he was in 2023 either:

• Walk rate: 10.9% in 2023 to 15.7% in 2025

• Swinging strike rate: 15.2% to 12.4%

• Ground ball rate: 55.3% to 43.8%

• Sinker velo: 95.6 mph to 94.3 mph

Hamilton’s not getting BABIPed to death either. His .255 BABIP is his lowest in three years as a Yankee (by 54 points!). Even without Luke Weaver, the Yankees have high leverage covered. Williams will close and Boone will use Leiter, Loáisiga, Fernando Cruz, and Tim Hill as setup guys before Hamilton. Hamilton has the No. 6 option in the bullpen is fine, or should be fine.

I do wonder if that roster spot is better used on a true long man though. Someone who can go 3-5 innings when Yarbrough or Will Warren have a short start. The Yankees start a stretch of 16 games in 16 days tonight and those are hell on the pitching staff in general. Hamilton has an option remaining. I’m not talking about DFAing the guy. Just swap him out for a long man. Maybe? Possibly?

Hamilton had three straight scoreless outings before Saturday’s meltdown. Two came in blowouts (score separated by 10+ runs), which shows where he is in the bullpen hierarchy. The underlying numbers say Hamilton is better than he’s been. At the same time, his 2023 was an eternity ago in reliever years. Don’t get caught holding onto these journeyman types too long. A long reliever might be the way to go with that roster spot given up the upcoming schedule.

Miscellany

That first home run Aaron Judge hit Sunday looked like it was hit by a left-handed hitter. Here’s the video. Over the bullpen the other way? Ridiculous. At 436 feet, it is the longest opposite field homer in baseball this year, 23 feet further than any opposite field homer outside Coors Field. Judge is hitting .396/.493/.771 (246 wRC+) in 64 games. A .771 SLG this deep into the season is preposterous … Annoyingly, Friday’s game got interesting. Warren faced five batters the third time through the lineup and got one out (on a sac fly), then Brent Headrick gave up a two-run dinger to Rafael Devers. Brent, I like you, but you’re gonna have to get outs to stick. Also, the Yankees need to take their scouting report on Devers and throw it in the trash. Just start over … Wells had a homer and a double against Garrett Crochet Saturday. He had two extra-base hits against lefties all last year, then he had two in his first two at-bats against Crochet. The .290 OBP is an eyesore, but Wells is third among catchers in homers (10) and second in extra-base hits (21), plus he’s among the best framers, and his 28% caught stealing rate is better than the 22% league average … And finally, LeMahieu is at .258/.333/.371 (103 wRC+) in 20 games back from the injured list and that is way, way better than I expected. I also feel like that’s as good as it’s going to get. There are still way too many balls on the ground and you can only be so productive that way. I will happily take the L if LeMahieu proves to be a valuable contributor the rest of the way, but the Yankees should still be on the lookout for a righty hitting infielder at the deadline.

Injury updates

Luke Weaver (hamstring) had his PRP injection. He’s playing catch to keep his arm in shape, and that’s it right now … Luis Gil (lat) is making progress with his throwing program. He’s still got a few more bullpens ahead of him before facing hitters … Jake Cousins (flexor) in his second rehab appearance with High-A Hudson Valley on Saturday: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 3 K on 25 pitches. He’s got another 3-4 rehab games to go, at least … JT Brubaker’s latest rehab start with Triple- Scranton: 3.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K on 67 pitches. His 30-day rehab window expires next Tuesday. Enough time for one more rehab start. We’ll see what happens after that.

Up next

The homestand is over and up next is an ALDS rematch with the Royals. Today is Day 1 of a 16 games in 16 days stretch. Maybe we’ll see a spot sixth starter (Brubaker? Allan Winans?) sometime next week to give the regular starters an extra day? We’ll see. Here’s what’s coming up between this week:

• Tuesday at Royals: LHP Max Fried vs. LHP Noah Cameron (7:40pm ET on YES, TBS)

• Wednesday at Royals: RHP Clarke Schmidt vs. LHP Kris Bubic (7:40pm ET on Amazon, MLBN)

• Thursday at Royals: RHP Will Warren vs. RHP Seth Lugo (7:40pm ET on YES, MLBN)

This year’s Royals are a lot like last year’s Royals. Great rotation – Cameron is due to get whacked with the regression stick (0.85 ERA thanks to a .148 BABIP and 99.1% strand rate) – solid enough bullpen, poor offense. They’re averaging 3.42 runs per game this season, fourth fewest in baseball. They’ve hit 44 home runs. 44 homers in 66 games! The Yankees have 105 homers in 64 games.

So yeah, if the pitching staff gets lit up this week by the Royals like it did against the Red Sox over the weekend, I will officially be worried. This is the Royals’ offense in a nutshell:

• Maikel Garcia + Bobby Witt Jr.: .301/.362/.490 (133 wRC+) in 551 PA

• Everyone Else: .239/.289/.339 (72 wRC+) in 1,888 PA

Kansas City’s version of Aaron Judge + Juan Soto vs. Everyone Else. Anyway, the Royals called up Jac Caglianone, last year’s No. 6 overall pick, last week and he hasn’t done much yet, though he has huge power. Caglianone is more or less who the Yankees hope Spencer Jones will become at the plate. This will be his first home series. I’m sure he’ll get a hero’s welcome. Go spoil it, Yankees.

2. Prospect thoughts. Now that we’re two months into the season, it’s time to update the minor league standings. Here’s where the four full season affiliates sit:

• Triple-A Scranton: 29-31 and +34 run differential (12.5 GB)

• Double-A Somerset: 25-31 and -10 run differential (13 GB)

• High-A Hudson Valley: 34-22 and +116 run differential (4.5 GB)

• Low-A Tampa: 31-25 and +59 run differential (2 GB)

Two games under .500 with a +34 run differential? That’s rough, RailRiders. Hudson Valley’s +116 run differential is fourth best in the minors, and thanks to their prospect-laden rotation, the Renegades have a team 2.94 ERA. That’s second lowest in the minors and 0.40 runs better than the second best team in the South Atlantic League. Pretty, pretty good. Here are a few prospect thoughts and notes.

Pitching promotions

June is promotion season and the Yankees moved a few notable arms up a level within the last week or so. Here are the moves. One guy replaces the other as they each move up:

• RHP Cam Schlittler: Double-A to Triple-A

• RHP Carlos Lagrange: High-A to Double-A

• LHP Griffin Herring: Low-A to High-A

Three weeks ago I said I expected Lagrange to spend most of the season in High-A because he’s still so young and because he doesn’t haven’t to go on the 40-man roster until next offseason, and the Yankees said you idiot, you absolute moron. They promoted him 15 days later. The Yankees have gotten really aggressive with their promotions the last 3-4 years. Lagrange made his Double-A debut Friday: 6 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 2 HR (video) on 78 pitches. His walk rate is down to 6.8%, incredibly.

Lance Brozdowski covered Lagrange in a recent edition of his paid newsletter and I won’t give it all away because it’s behind the paywall, but the takeaway is: he’s good. “Dellin Betances with starter projection is a team-specific comp that makes a lot of sense,” Brozdowski wrote and that’s based on the pitch data, not the eye test. “Lagrange already looks great, and there’s room to grow,” he adds. Good stuff.

Schlittler got a lot of run in Spring Training (four starts and a relief appearance) and really dominated with Somerset this year: 2.38 ERA (2.16 FIP) with 30.2 K% and 8.8 BB% in 53 innings. Set the minimum to 50 innings and that’s a top 15 strikeout rate in the minors. Schlittler’s Triple-A debut went very well Saturday: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 8 K (video) on 85 pitches. Now that he’s in Triple-A, we have Statcast:

I did not realize Schlittler had 99 mph in the tank (well, 98.7 mph). He’s got some funky stuff going on with his extension. It was 6.4 feet in his Triple-A debut, which is MLB average even though he’s 6-foot-6. Usually a guy that tall gets further down the mound. This isn’t bad. It’s unique. Shallow release points add deception. The ball out of Schlittler’s hand is not what hitters usually see from a pitcher that tall.

Once you reach Triple-A, you’re a phone call away from the big leagues, and Schlittler has to go on the 40-man roster for Rule 5 Draft protection purposes after the season. The Yankees aren’t shy about adding guys to the 40-man earlier than necessary (Clarke Schmidt, Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, etc.). I’m not saying they’ll put Schlittler in the rotation next week. Just that, if a need arises and they think he’s the best man for the job, they’ll call him up and not play roster games.

As for Herring, last year’s sixth rounder is outperforming several of the higher profile arms the Yankees drafted ahead of him. He had a 1.21 ERA (2.83 FIP) with 33.3 K% and 9.2 BB% in 44.2 Low-A innings before the promotion and has allowed two runs in 12 innings in two High-A starts. Set the minimum to 55 innings, and Herring is top five in the minors in swinging strike rate this season:

1. Ian Seymour, Rays: 16.4%
2. Gage Jump, Athletics: 15.8%
3. Lucas Gordon, White Sox: 15.8%
4. Griffin Herring, Yankees: 15.1%
5. Alan Rangel, Phillies: 14.7%

Griffin was primarily a reliever at LSU but he had a starter's arsenal. Statcast says he was low-90s with the four-seamer and sinker with Low-A Tampa, and had a mid-80s traditional slider he threw to lefties and a mid-80s changeup he threw to righties. Here’s video. Nothing really pops stuff-wise, but four-pitch lefties who miss this many bats have my attention. Herring earned his promotion to High-A.

DSL season underway

The 2025 minor league season is a full go now. The rookie Florida Complex League began in May and the Dominican Summer League launched last week. The Yankees have two DSL teams (Yankees and Bombers), which isn’t unusual. There are 52 DSL teams. Lots of MLB organizations have multiple clubs in that league. The Bombers are 2-3 so far. The Yankees are 1-4.

The notable prospects in the DSL this year: RHP Alex Almonte (Not Top 30 Prospect), SS Mani Cedeno (Not Top 30 Prospect), C Queni Pineda (Prospect to Know), and OF Francisco Vilorio (No. 29 on the Top 30). Also, Ben Badler (subs. req’d) identified two Yankees among his top 20 DSL pitching prospects to watch this year. That’s an interesting guys list more than a top prospects list.

Hector Moreno, RHP, Yankees: Moreno signed with the Yankees out of the Dominican Republic for $100,000 and has a familiar look to other power arms the organization has produced from their Latin American pipeline. He’s 6-foot-6, 200 pounds at 17 and can touch 95 mph with the physicality and arm speed that give him the look of a potential 100 mph arm. Moreno’s high-spin curveball is his best secondary pitch ahead of his changeup. 

Randy Angomas, RHP, Yankees: With Moreno, Angomas and 19-year-old Manuel Cruz, the Yankees have three promising Dominican righthanders who will make their debut this year in the DSL. Angomas, a 17-year-old signed for $100,000, is 6-foot-1, 198 pounds with good control of a lively fastball up to 93 mph and a high-spin slider that should be a high swing-and-miss pitch. 

Barring something unexpected, that will be the extent of my DSL coverage this year. It’s just not a league I pay much attention to. Even these days, it’s hard to get reliable information from that league, plus so few DSL players will make it to even High-A. Not being a hater. That’s just the reality. A few interesting DSL prospects will emerge this year. They always do. We’ll learn more about them in 2026.

Yankees claim Alexander

Technically a prospect, but not really. The Yankees claimed IF CJ Alexander off waivers from the Athletics over the weekend and optioned him to Triple-A Scranton. They still have an open 40-man roster spot, plus Oswaldo Cabrera can go on the 60-day injured list. Alexander, 28, has a .252/.348/.509 (101* wRC+) line with 10 homers, 25.5 K%, and 13.0 BB% in 42 Triple-A games this year. He went 3-for-17 with the A’s.

* Gotta love the Pacific Coast League, where you can hit .252/.348/.509 and be 1% better than league average.

Alexander is a left-handed hitter and a four corners guy. He hasn’t played center field or the middle infield at any level of pro ball, so he’s not someone who’s going to help the Yankees and their righty bench bat problem. Here’s what Eric Longenhagen wrote about Alexander in November:

The Athletics claimed Alexander off waivers in September after the Royals released him following a four-game cameo for their big league club. Alexander posted a .302/.361/.559 slash line along with 52 extra base hits in 411 trips to the plate against Triple-A pitching in 2024. His approach, which is heavy on chase (34% in 2024) and light on walks (8% career walk rate), limits how much his hit tool will play at the major league level, but his ability to tap into his juice in games and to handle multiple corner defensive positions is enough to provide up/down utility.

For now, Alexander is a body for the RailRiders, who lost Dom Smith to an opt out last week. Between Alexander, Braden Shewmake, and Bryan De La Cruz, the Yankees have no shortage of easily DFAable guys in Scranton. They’ll need those 40-man spots when the 60-day injured list guys (JT Brubaker, Jake Cousins, Luis Gil, Giancarlo Stanton, etc.) start coming back, whenever that is.

Miscellany

SS George Lombard Jr. is still trying to find his way in Double-A: .220/.344/.260 (92 wRC+) with 17.6 BB% and 25.6 K% in 29 games. He turned 20 last week. It’s understandable he’s going through an adjustment period at Double-A … OF Spencer Jones is becoming a big time three-true outcomes guy. Last year he hit 17 homers with 36.8 K% and 9.9 BB% in 122 games. In 34 games this year, he has 10 homers with 37.8 K% and 16.1 BB%. Power and walks up, average down: .218/.350/.513 (152 wRC+) overall … It’s been tough sledding for SS Roderick Arias this season: .155/.313/.240 (72 wRC+) with 30.6 K% while repeating Low-A. He’s still only 20, but there’s not much progress being made here. Bummer … RHP Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, the prospect the Yankees got in the Carlos Narváez trade with the Red Sox, has a 2.95 ERA (2.58 FIP) with 29.2 K% and 10.2 BB% in 55 High-A innings. He’s made 17 starts at the level between this year and last year. I can’t imagine a promotion to Double-A is too far away … 2B Roc Riggio missed the start of the season with a hand injury and he’s crushed the ball since returning last month: .280/.410/.680 (198 wRC+) with 11 homers, 16.4 BB%, and 23.8 K% in 27 games. He’s hit four homers in five games since being promoted to Double-A Somerset. I wonder if Riggio has played his way into trade value? Hmmm … RHP Greysen Carter, last year’s hard-throwing/control-challenged fourth round pick, was demoted from Low-A Tampa to the rookie Florida Complex League a few weeks ago. He’s walked 38 batters in 33.2 innings this year, and yeah, that’ll get you demoted. Carter had a ghastly two-start stretch last month: 5 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 14 BB, 2 K combined. Egads … And finally, OF Dillon Lewis, last year’s 13th round pick, is having a nice year: .243/.310/.466 (114 wRC+) with 10 homers and 13 steals in 52 games between the two Single-A levels. Few too many strikeouts (26.5%) though. He showed up in Baseball America’s Hot Sheet (subs. req’d) last week and they said he has a “very loud tool set that has shown up in spades in pro ball.” They add the Yankees are working with him to elevate the ball more. Lewis had a 93.7 mph average exit velocity in Low-A. Sheesh.

Injury updates

LHP Brock Selvidge (biceps) returned on May 19th and has pitched poorly in what amounts to four rehab starts: 10.2 IP, 9 H, 11 R, 4 ER, 9 BB, 10 K. Hopefully he sharpens up as he gets further away from the injury that wiped out his second half of 2024 and his first few weeks of 2025 … LHP Ben Shields missed the start of the season with an unknown injury. He returned last week and has allowed four runs in five innings with nine strikeouts. Statcast says his fastball sat 93 mph during his Low-A Tampa outing over the weekend, which is where he was last season, so I guess that’s good news … RHP Justin Lange, the player the Yankees got from the Padres in the Luke Voit trade, returned last week after missing all of 2024 and the start of 2025 with a shoulder injury. He retired all four batters he faced (two strikeouts). Lange turns 24 in September and has barely pitched above rookie ball. Not sure what the plan is here, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he moves to the bullpen full-time … RHP Sabier Marte, my No. 19 prospect, will miss 2025. He had elbow surgery. Not sure if it was Tommy John, the internal brace, or something else entirely. Either way, he’s out for 2025 … And finally, RHP Mack Estrada, one of my Not Top 30 Prospects, is on the full season injured list, so he won’t pitch this year either. Not sure what he’s dealing with. Pitchers, man.

3. 2025 draft prospect: Clemson OF Cam Cannarella. The 2025 MLB Draft will take place during the All-Star break and the Yankees hold the No. 39 pick. Here are the draft prospects I’ve already profiled. Some are players the Yankees are reported to have interest in, some are players who fit the team’s M.O., and some are players I like for whatever reason. We’re covering a little of everything.

Cannarella, 21, went undrafted as an infielder out of his South Carolina high school, and a year later he was the ACC Freshman of the Year as a center fielder. He slashed .388/.462/.560 with seven home runs and 24 steals as a first-year player in 2022. Cannarella followed that up with a .337/.417/.561 line as a sophomore despite playing through a torn right (throwing) labrum that required surgery last summer.

This spring Cannarella authored a .353/.479/.530 batting line with 22 doubles, five steals, and more walks (17.8%) than strikeouts (14.4%) in 61 games. He’s more or less stopped stealing bases since the shoulder injury though. After going 24-for-29 stealing bases as a freshman, Cannarella is only 6-for-12 the last two years. Here’s where he slots into the latest draft prospect rankings:

• Baseball America (subs. req’d): No. 27

• ESPN (subs. req’d): No. 34

• FanGraphs: No. 8

• MLB Pipeline: No. 39

• Keith Law (subs. req’d): No. 22

Cannarella jumped into the national spotlight last June when he hit a game-tying three-run home run in the ninth inning against Florida, then made a spectacular leaping over-the-shoulder catch in center in the tenth (video). Both plays kept Clemson’s season alive. Here’s more video and here is part of Baseball America’s scouting report (subs. req’d), which is more informative than the others:

While there are some moving parts in his swing, he is consistently on time and in a good hitter’s position. Cannarella has above-average bat speed and uses all fields, but his ability to generate quality contact to the opposite field is especially impressive. He has excellent bat-to-ball skills and in 2024 had a 91% in-zone contact rate, including 92% against fastballs. Cannarella is an outstanding defender in center field and has a quick first step with great instincts. Both his speed and raw athleticism shine. He covers a ton of ground in all directions and makes big-time plays on a regular basis … When healthy his arm is average, but his speed, athleticism and baseball sense will allow him to stick in center long term.

For all intents and purposes, Cannarella has the Brett Gardner skill set, right down to being from South Carolina. He’s a speed/defense outfielder, first and foremost, and also a pesky lefty hitter with sneaky pop. Cannarella might be the best defensive player in the draft class regardless of position, and guys who are this good at a premium position and have performed in college usually don’t last long on draft day.

The shoulder surgery is a red flag and rumor is there are medical concerns beyond that, which is why Cannarella is viewed more as a late first round/early second round guy than a slam dunk first rounder. The defense means he’ll never be a total zero, and there’s enough potential in the bat for Cannarella to contribute all-around. He doesn’t have the power the Yankees prefer, but he does offer a lot.

4. Rapid fire thoughts. Aaron Judge Said He’s Skipping The Home Run Derby Day came early this year. He said he’s out last Thursday. Same story as always: Judge said he’ll do it again when the All-Star Game comes back to New York. That won’t happen until 2028 at the earliest, and more likely not until the 2030s. Judge is signed through 2031, his age 39 season. Pretty good chance he’ll never do it again. Too bad. The man was made for dinger competitions. Judge won the Home Run Derby as a rookie in 2017, and no Yankee has been in it since. Not sure that’ll change this year.

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