May 6th, 2025: Judge, Boone, Chisholm, Vivas, Volpe, Fried, Rodón, Domínguez, 2025 Draft, Lombard

Sorry today's post is late, I accidentally scheduled it for 6pm ET instead of 6am ET. My bad.

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The Yankees debuted an Austin Wells inspired breakfast burrito over the weekend (he’s still ranking them). The Wells Favurrito is available in sections 110, 217, and 321 during day games and includes scrambled eggs, sausage, Maple City fries, cheddar jack cheese, and chipotle aioli. My scouting report: It’s fine. I give it a 6/10. Like every other food item, it’s on the small side and overpriced ($12). Glad I tried it once. Not sure I’ll seek it out a second time. There is your Yankee Stadium food update and here is today’s post.

1. 365 days of Aaron Judge. One year and three days ago, Aaron Judge woke up with a .197/.331/.393 (107 wRC+) line that wasn’t horrible, but was well south of his usual production. Judge slammed an AL single-season record 62 homers in 2022 and was just about as good on a rate basis in 2023. He then started 2024 slowly. Slowly enough that he got booed on his own bobblehead day.

"I've heard worse," Judge said about getting booed last April 20th (video). "I'd probably be doing the same thing in their situation."

Judge woke up with that 107 wRC+ on May 3rd. Later that day he went 1-for-3 with a walk. The next day he went 2-for-4 with a double. The day after that he went 2-for-3 with a double, a homer, and a walk. That was the start of an all-out assault on pitchers across the league the final five months of the season. Judge hit .197/.331/.393 (107 wRC+) in his first 33 games last year and .357/.492/.787 (249 wRC+) the rest of the way.

“You’ve just got to go up there with confidence, no matter what,” Judge told Bryan Hoch last week. “I felt the same even when I was hitting .170 last year. You guys were asking all the questions about, ‘When are you going to turn it around?’ I can’t focus on results. I’ve got to focus on the process and trying to get a job done. And if you do that for 500 at-bats, good things are going to happen.”

There has been no slow start to 2025. Not only has Judge continued last year’s onslaught, he’s managed to improve on it. On May 3rd this year, Judge woke up with a .430/.521/.777 (266 wRC+) batting line. He’d reached base safely 75 times and made only 74 outs even when you factor in double plays. Forget seeing signs of decline at age 33. Judge is somehow getting better with age. It’s remarkable.

Judge’s last calendar year is the greatest and most dominant offensive performance I’ve ever seen. I did not think a hitter, especially a right-handed hitter who is at the platoon disadvantage so often, could be this good. Judge’s numbers in the 365 days and 158 games from May 3rd, 2024 (the day he officially snapped out of his funk) to May 2nd, 2025 are simply preposterous:

• AVG: .371 (Next best: Vlad Guerrero Jr. at .332)

• OBP: .497 (Next best: Juan Soto at .407)

• SLG: .782 (Next best: Shohei Ohtani at .631) 

• wRC+: 251 (Next best: Ohtani at 176)

• HR: 62 (Next best: Ohtani at 54)

• fWAR: +14.1 (Next best: Bobby Witt Jr. at +10.4)

Ohtani is a great hitter and a historic talent, and the gap between Judge’s wRC+ and Ohtani’s wRC+ over that 365-day period is the same as the gap between Ohtani’s and Jesús Sánchez’s. The gap between No. 1 and No. 2 on the leaderboard is the same as the gap between No. 2 and No. 84. Calling Judge the best hitter in baseball undersells it. He is leaps and bounds ahead of anyone else.

“He’s playing a different game than everyone else,” Aaron Boone said about Judge this past weekend (video). “He’s just better than everyone else.” 

Going back to 2022, Judge is hitting .314/.439/.682 and averaging 60 homers per 162 games in the last three seasons plus one month. That works out to a 210 OPS+. Set the minimum to 500 plate appearances and only 10 players (27 instances) have ever had a 210 OPS+ in a single season, and Judge has managed to do it in over 2,000 plate appearances spanning four seasons.

Some all-time greats, inner circle of the inner circle guys like Hank Aaron, Carl Yastrzemski, Albert Pujols, Willie Mays, and Mikes Schmidt and Trout have never had a 200 OPS+ season. Judge has produced at that pace over the last four years. Only 10 players in AL/NL history have had multiple 200 OPS+ seasons and they’re basically the nine greatest hitters ever, and Aaron Judge:

1. Babe Ruth: 11 seasons with a 200 OPS+
2. Barry Bonds: 6
3. Ted Williams: 6
4. Rogers Hornsby: 4
5. Mickey Mantle: 3
6. Lou Gehrig: 3
7. Ty Cobb: 3
8. Jimmie Foxx: 2
9. Dan Brouthers: 2
10. Aaron Judge: 2 (and counting!) 

In terms of offensive peak, Bonds and Judge are the two best hitters of the Expansion Era (since 1961), and it’s not like Judge is lagging in career value. The guy hit .280/.391/.563 (154 OPS+) and averaged 46 homers per 162 games from 2017-21, before he started setting home run records and putting up 200 OPS+ seasons. Judge was great from 2017-21 and he’s been on an all-time heater since 2022.

When it’s all said and done, Judge will go down as one of the 10 greatest right-handed hitters ever. Maybe one of the five best? Or three best? Aaron and Mays were so good for so long that I think they have to be at the top of that list. The next tier is Hornsby, Foxx, Pujols, Schmidt, Joe DiMaggio, and maybe a few others. Judge has been working his way into that conversation these last four years. The last nine years, really.

Where Judge ranks among the all-time great right-handed hitters is a conversation we can have once his career is over. He’s still building his case. Right now though, Judge’s last calendar year is about as good as hitters can be. He’s facing the nastiest pitchers ever, he sees 3-4 different pitchers a night, he’s hitting against the best positioned defenses ever, and he’s still performing like this. Simply incredible.

“I’ve got a job to do every time I step up to the plate,” Judge told Hoch. “You try to block out the past and focus on the situation at hand. I try not to look at that stuff until after the season is over.”

2. Weekend thoughts. I gotta tell you, the Yankees being 19-16 with Max Fried and Aaron Judge (and Carlos Rodón) having the seasons they’re having, and while getting 90th percentile outcomes from Paul Goldschmidt and Trent Grisham (and Ben Rice), doesn’t feel great. The AL East is mediocrity defined this year and the Yankees are certainly part of it. Too many winnable games are slipping away. Everything needs to be better. Offense, defense, baserunning, rotation, bullpen, managing, roster building. Top to bottom, it’s not good enough. Here are a few thoughts on the last few days.

Boone’s bad weekend

Tour de force of wtf managerial decisions these last few days. Ultimately, it’s on the players to perform, but you can always apply the “does this put the team in the best position to succeed?” test, and Aaron Boone flunked it too many times the last few days. To recap:

Saturday vs. Rays: The Yankees took a 2-1 lead into the eighth inning and Mark Leiter Jr. was brought in to face the 2-3-4-5 hitters. That situation is begging for your best available reliever, yet Luke Weaver sat and watched in the bullpen while Leiter blew the lead and the game (Anthony Volpe’s unfortunate knack for high leverage errors was a factor). Maybe Weaver would have blown the game too, he did struggle Monday, but he is your best reliever. Leiter got ahead 1-2 on Brandon Lowe and 0-2 on Curtis Mead, couldn’t put either away, and that was that. A one-run lead slipped away without the team’s top reliever getting into the game. I am asking for a modicum of flexibility rather than rigid bullpen roles. It's not too much to ask in the year 2025.

Sunday vs. Rays: The Yankees had the bases loaded with no outs in the eighth inning, and were down four runs. Backup catcher J.C. Escarra was allowed to hit for himself even with Ben Rice and Austin Wells available to pinch-hit. Escarra hit into a comeback-killing 1-2-3 double play. Rice pinch-hit for Oswaldo Cabrera later in the inning, but first base was open, so Tampa pitched around him to get to the impressively useless Oswald Peraza. Free advice, Aaron: When in doubt, put yourself in the other manager’s shoes. Who did Kevin Cash want to see at the plate in that spot, Escarra or Rice (or Wells)? Chances are the Yankees would have lost even if Boone did pinch-hit for Escarra, but damn man. Just do the obvious thing.

Monday vs. Padres: Similar to Clay Holmes last season, the Yankees demoted Devin Williams out of the closer’s role, but did not take him out of high leverage work. Since the demotion he’s pitched with Yankees down one, down one, up three, and again up three. Boone has been playing with fire and he got burned Monday. Walking Tyler Wade and giving up a two-strike hit to Brandon Lockridge are things that should not happen. Williams is not right. He is not the guy on the back of his baseball card. The Yankees have to stop forcing him into the role they want him to fill and put him in the role he is qualified to fill, and right now, that is the last guy in the bullpen. Low leverage work only. Fernando Cruz threw two (2) pitches in the seventh inning and was taken out for some reason. Again, just do the obvious thing and keep him in.

The Yankees have lost an MLB high five games when taking a lead into the eighth inning and they’ve yet to win a game when trailing at any point after the sixth inning. This team has not shown much fight at all this year. If they put up a crooked number early, they can cruise to an easy win, but if the game is close in the late innings, they find ways to lose far more often than they find ways to win. Boone isn’t the problem, but he doesn’t help. His bad weekend exacerbated the team’s deeper issues.

Jazz’s oblique and Jorbit’s big chance

The usual progression of oblique injuries is player gets hurt > player says he doesn’t think he’ll miss much time > player misses six-ish weeks. The player never seems to think it's as bad as it turns out to be. Jazz Chisholm Jr. will be out 4-6 weeks with a high grade right oblique strain after hurting it on a swing in Baltimore, the Yankees revealed Friday. Obliques are easy to reaggravate. Please don’t rush it.

“In his mind, it’s going to be real quick, but I think it’s going to be a while,” Boone told Bryan Hoch. “We’ll just see how he heals up.”

The .181 AVG is an eyesore, but Jazz has the second highest walk rate on the Yankees (12.0%), he’s a threat to put the ball in the seats in any given at-bat, he’s their top base stealer, and he’s a great defender at second base. At the time of his injury, Chisholm was third on the Yankees with +1.2 WAR. The swings and misses and strikeouts are frustrating, I know, but Jazz’s all-around impact will be missed.

One player’s injury is another player’s opportunity, and Chisholm’s injury opened the door for Jorbit Vivas to finally get some big league playing time. He was up for three days last year (July 12-15) and three days earlier this year (April 21-24), but did not get into a game either time. Vivas is up now and Boone says the plan is to play him and play him a lot while Chisholm is on the injured list.

“I expect Jorbit to play a lot,” Boone told Hoch. “He’s playing really well down in Triple-A. He’s been up a couple of times, and I haven’t gotten him in yet. We also know we have a good player there. He can really play second and he can swing the bat.”

“Play a lot” in Boone’s world means Vivas started Friday, was removed for a pinch-hitter Saturday, and on the bench Sunday. Pinch-hitting for him against lefty Garrett Cleavinger in a one-run game is fine, I think. The bigger problem is Pablo Reyes being the top righty option on the bench. Vivas was out of the lineup Sunday because righty Taj Bradley is a reverse splits guy. I don’t agree with it, but that was the logic.

Vivas, my No. 24 prospect, is 1-for-7 with three walks and three strikeouts thus far. That includes going from 0-2 to a walk in his third career plate appearance. Vivas is a sassy bitch in the box too, eh? Lots of head nods and hand movements.

It says a lot about Peraza’s status within the organization that Vivas is going to “play a lot” during Chisholm’s absence, not Peraza. I’m not high on either guy, I don’t think it’ll be long before we’re counting the days until Jazz returns, but it seems like the Yankees have decided Peraza is a spare part and nothing more. If they were ever going to play him, now would be time. Instead, it’ll be Vivas.

Chisholm has missed five games and the lack of range at second base has been painfully obvious. There is nothing the Yankees can do about that. Whoever they put at second will be a defensive downgrade. With any luck, Vivas will bring some offensive punch and energy, because the bottom of the lineup has been a black hole lately. Will Warren is in the process of blowing his big chance. I hope Vivas doesn’t do the same.

Volpe’s shoulder scare

I don’t understand the Yankees sometimes. They go to great lengths to avoid overworking their pitchers (no three days in a row for relievers, no using off-days to skip the No. 5 starter, etc.) and they mostly stick to a set rest schedule for position players. We all know the frustration of seeing the guy who went 3-for-4 with a homer last night sitting on the bench today. Prioritizing player health is a good thing overall.

But the Yankees do all that, and then they’ll let Chisholm finish his at-bat after hurting his oblique, and keep Volpe in the game after feeling a “pop” – Volpe’s word – in his left shoulder when he landed awkwardly on a diving play (video). Volpe is the Golden Child, he can do no wrong in the Yankees’ eyes, and yet there wasn’t the slightest hint of caution when it appeared he’d been injured.

“It happened quick and it was scary, but after that, I felt okay and I felt like I had my strength,” Volpe told Hoch after Saturday’s game. “I’ve never really had anything else pop or dislocate or anything like that, so I have nothing to compare it to.”

An x-ray and an MRI came back clean and Volpe returned to the lineup Monday, and drove a sac fly to the edge of the warning track, which is a good sign. The injury is to his left shoulder, his front shoulder when hitting, and that’s where the power comes from. Volpe driving a ball that deep in his first game back is encouraging. The last thing he can afford to lose offensively is whatever hard-hit ability he has.

Losing Volpe on top of losing Chisholm would have been devastating. Defensively, they’re one of the best double play combinations in baseball, and they’re the Yankees’ top two speed threats. Sunday afternoon the Yankees had Cabrera at third, Peraza at short, and Reyes at second. That should be Scranton’s infield. The Yankees running that infield out there for more than a few days would be bad, bad news.

Furthermore, Volpe is the Yankees’ third best right-handed hitter. That’s a bit of a problem in and of itself because opposing teams keep telling us they are comfortable running lefty relievers out there against this lineup. But then subtract Volpe and you have no righty lineup depth whatsoever. It’s Judge, Goldschmidt, and either Peraza or Reyes. Bad. Bad bad bad. Glad Volpe escaped a major injury. The Yankees can’t afford to lose him, especially with Jazz hurt.

Miscellany

Seven shutout, one-hit innings for Fried on Friday (video). He has a 1.01 ERA (2.90 FIP) in seven starts and 44.2 innings. That 1.01 ERA is the lowest in Yankees’ history through a player’s first seven starts with the team. Mark Feinsand had a piece over the weekend polling executives about the best free agent signings of the offseason, and Fried did not get a vote. Carson Kelly did, but not Fried. I guess Max makes too much money to be a good signing … Rodón had a pretty good seven-start run last May/June, but I think he’s in the middle of his best stretch as a Yankee right now in terms of execution and the ease of the operation. He’s dominating, not just getting by. Rodón was great around a rain delay Monday: 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K (video). The stupid offense and stupid bullpen wasted it, but Rodón was really good once again … I have no idea why the Rays let lefty Mason Montgomery pitch to Goldschmidt with first base open and two outs in the fifth inning Friday, but I’m glad they did. Goldschmidt found the short porch for a three-run homer (video) that drove in the game’s only runs. He also went deep last Wednesday in Baltimore. It was the first time the Yankees got a home run from the first base position in back-to-back games since Anthony Rizzo last April 27-28 … I know the Yankees have more players who belong in the lineup than lineup spots, but Jasson Domínguez keeps drawing the short straw. He was out of the starting lineup for the third time in six games Monday. If I had even a smidgen of faith in the Yankees developing a young hitter, this wouldn’t bug me, but I don’t. Domínguez is hitting .311/.382/.475 (148 wRC+) against righties. Starting half the games isn’t enough … Tyler Matzek is a nice story and a potentially useful piece, but the Yankees need a second long man. Warren and Carlos Carrasco blow through the bullpen each turn through the rotation and Ryan Yarbrough can pitch only so often. Replace Matzek with Allan Winans, I guess? Someone who can give 3-4 innings at a time. The important relievers are going to be cooked by June at this rate … Reyes is a zero-tool player. It’s remarkable, really. He doesn’t hit, he has no range on the infield, he’s bobbled how many ground balls. At this point I assume Reyes is the Yankees’ way of getting us to look forward to DJ LeMahieu’s return.

Injury updates

Clarke Schmidt (side) was scratched from Saturday’s start with soreness, which necessitated the bullpen game. An MRI came back clean and he’s expected to start Tuesday. Sounds very precautionary. Schmidt was going to start Saturday had the bullpen been used heavily Friday, which it wasn’t, because Fried is awesome … Gerrit Cole (elbow) shed his big clunky arm brace about three weeks ago and is doing more arm exercises. He hopes to start throwing in August. It’s very early in the rehab process, but everything is going well … LeMahieu (calf) resumed his rehab assignment Friday after getting a cortisone shot in his hip earlier last week. LeMahieu is 7-for-16 (.438) with a homer through six rehab games and, despite Boone saying they would get him work at third base soon, he has only played second. LeMahieu could rejoin the Yankees for their West Coast trip this coming weekend and yeah, it sounds like he’s going to be an option at second base with Chisholm injured … Jonathan Loáisiga (elbow) struck out three and allowed a run in 1.1 innings in his latest rehab outing Sunday. He threw 19 pitches and it was his first time pitching in two separate innings. Loáisiga’s up to seven strikeouts in 3.1 innings in three rehab games with Low-A Tampa … Giancarlo Stanton (elbows) is still hitting against the high velocity machine and could advance to live pitching either later this week or next week, when Jake Cousins (flexor) is expected to start facing hitters … Marcus Stroman (knee) threw bullpens Friday and Monday. They were his first two times throwing off a mound since getting hurt. As long as he feels good, Stroman’s next step is a live BP later this week.

Up next

Two more games with the Fightin’ Machados and then the first West Coast trip of the year. The Yankees will play their first ever games in Sacramento this weekend. That’s something to talk about Friday though. Here’s what’s coming up the rest of this week:

• Tuesday vs. Padres: RHP Clarke Schmidt vs. RHP Mike King (7pm ET on YES, TBS)

• Wednesday vs. Padres: LHP Max Fried vs. RHP Dylan Cease (7pm ET on Amazon, MLBN)

• Thursday: off-day

The Padres declined to use last Thursday’s off-day to skip their No. 5 starter, so King will start tonight after being lined up for yesterday’s game. More importantly, Schmidt is scheduled to start for the Yankees after being scratched Saturday. Using Carrasco in long relief Sunday (three innings and 46 pitches) suggests the Yankees are confident Schmidt will make that start, otherwise they would’ve held Carrasco back in case they need him to start Tuesday.

3. 2025 draft coverage kickoff. It's early May and it’s time to get into draft content. The draft takes place during the All-Star break now even though front offices hate it. July is a very busy time of year. There’s the draft, then the All-Star Game, then the trade deadline one right after the other. Good for baseball overall, I think. Less good for lemmings like me who have to cover it all.

ANYWAY, as I do each year, I will profile prospects between now and the draft. Some will be players who fit what seems to be the Yankees’ preferred profile, some will be players I like, some will be players linked to the Yankees, and some will be none of the above. We usually cover enough ground to hit on the player the Yankees end up taking in the first round, though not last year. I missed on Ben Hess. Here are my 2020 Austin Wells, 2021 Trey Sweeney, 2022 Spencer Jones, and 2023 George Lombard Jr. pre-draft profiles.

I’ll (probably) start diving into the individual draft prospect profiles later this week. But first, let’s cover the basics of the 2025 draft, shall we?

Draft details

The All-Star Game is in Atlanta this year and the two-day draft will begin Sunday, July 13th. It is a two-day event now, not three, per J.J. Cooper. Thank goodness. No reason to drag the draft out any longer than it needs to be. This is the new draft schedule:

• Day 1: Rounds 1-3 (televised)

• Day 2: Rounds 4-20 (conference call)

The Yankees will make two picks on Day 1. MLB hasn’t announced the draft details yet (venue, start time, etc.), though I assume it’ll be televised on MLB Network and ESPN again. The conference call is a beautiful thing. Rapid fire picks, one after the other. Drafting the way the baseball gods intended. I give MLB credit for trying to make the draft a thing, but it’s just not a made-for-television event.

The fifth annual draft combine will be held June 17-21 at Chase Field. Over 300 players attend each year and those who do are guaranteed at least 75% of their slot value. The Yankees liked what they saw from Brock Selvidge, my No. 14 prospect, at the 2021 combine, and gave him a $1.5M bonus as their third round pick. MLB Network televises some combine events, if you’re interested.

Bonus pool and slot values

No longer is the draft order the reverse order of the previous year’s standings. The first six picks are set via lottery, picks 7-18 are the remaining non-postseason teams in the reverse order of the standings, and picks 19-30 are the 12 postseason teams in order of their finish. The Yankees received the No. 29 pick for losing the World Series. Through reverse order of the standings, they would’ve had the No. 28 pick.

That No. 29 pick moves back 10 spots because the Yankees were over the second luxury tax penalty threshold. They also forfeited two picks (and $1M in international bonus pool money) to sign Max Fried and gained a compensation pick for losing Juan Soto. Here’s the tricky park: One of the picks they gave up for Fried was the Soto pick. The Yankees surrendered their second and fifth highest picks to sign Fried, not their second and fifth round picks, and the Soto pick was their fifth highest. Got all that? Good.

Long story short, the Yankees have one fewer pick after signing Fried and losing Soto, and their first pick was moved back 10 spots for luxury tax reasons. Here is the full draft order and here are the Yankees' picks and the slot values via Jim Callis:

• 1st round (No. 39): $2,509,500

• 3rd round (No. 103): $744.400

• 4th round (No. 134): $550,300

• 5th round (No. 164): $411,100

• 6th round (No. 194): $319,800

• 7th round (No. 224): $252,100

• 8th round (No. 254): $212,500

• 9th round (No. 284): $196,600

• 10th round (No. 314): $187,300

No. 39 falls in the middle of the second round even though it is technically the Yankees’ first round pick. Anyway, that adds up to a $5,383,600 bonus pool, the smallest in baseball. That’s what happens when you go to the World Series and thus pick late in the first round, have that pick moved back for luxury tax reasons, and then give up a pick to sign a qualified free agent.

Rounds 11-20 have a flat $150,000 slot and every dollar over $150,000 counts against the bonus pool. Same with undrafted free agents. The bonus pool is a soft cap and teams can exceed their pool up to 5% and pay a tax on the overage as a penalty. Go over 5% and you start forfeiting future picks, something no team has done. The Yankees spend the extra 5% every year. With the extra 5%, they can max their bonus pool out at $5,728,352.

Vandy possibilities

The Vanderbilt > Yankees pipeline continued last year with second rounder Bryce Cunningham and fifth rounder Greysen Carter. Spencer Jones was a Vanderbilt guy and George Lombard Jr. and Anthony Volpe were both committed to Vanderbilt before signing with the Yankees. The Yankees don’t seek out Vandy guys specifically. They just value the same traits as the Commodores, so they overlap on a lot of guys.

Here are the notable Vandy players and Vandy commits among MLB Pipeline’s top 150 draft prospects:

• No. 2: California HS RHP Seth Hernandez

• No. 21: Florida HS IF/OF Sean Gamble

• No. 25: Oregon HS OF Slater de Brun

• No. 72: Vanderbilt LHP J.D. Thompson

• No. 84: Mississippi HS LHP Talon Haley

• No. 100: Vanderbilt OF RJ Austin

Hernandez has no chance to get to the Yankees at No. 39, and even if he does, they probably don’t have the bonus pool money to sign him there. Everyone else should be in play for the Yankees though. That isn’t to say they will for sure select one of those players, just that the Yankees have a history of taking Vandy guys, so it’s as good a place to start as any when looking at potential draft targets.

Mock drafts

Because the Yankees do not pick until No. 39, I have very little confidence I will pin down who the Yankees will ultimately take with their first selection. I mean, I never have high confidence in narrowing down who the Yankees will take, but at No. 39, boy, we’re going to have to cast a very wide net. Maybe we’ll get some good intel on their targets this summer. I hope so. Otherwise it’ll be guesswork city.

It is still too early to start connecting specific players to specific teams (there is no slam dunk No. 1 prospect this year, it’s currently wide open at the top of the draft) and that is especially true for the Yankees, who pick so late. For entertainment purposes early, here is who Baseball America has the Yankees taking their first mock draft (subs. req’d) …

39. Yankees — Nolan Schubart, OF, Oklahoma State

Unless the Yankees are going to go all in on college pitchers again this year, Schubart just makes way too much sense for them. Huge exit velocities, huge physicality, lefthanded college hitter. Check, check, check. He’s not the athlete that Spencer Jones is, but maybe his consistently strong walk rates offer a balance against his swing-and-miss tendencies and give him a higher offensive floor?

… and their second mock draft (subs. req’d):

39. Yankees — Alex Lodise, SS, Florida State

Lodise has been surging all season, and it wouldn’t be a shocker for him to join the top four college shortstops in the class inside the first round—if he’s not there already. An ACC shortstop who has been one of the most impressive offensive performers in the country, Lodise is hitting .432/.485/.797 through 37 games with 13 home runs, 11 doubles and a perfect 6-for-6 on the bases. He is an extremely aggressive hitter which could taper his upside, but he feels like a top-50 player currently.

No. 39 is the Yankees’ latest first selection since 2014. They took Jacob Lindgren with the No. 55 pick that year after forfeiting picks to sign Carlos Beltrán, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Brian McCann. All first rounders are protected from free agent compensation now. The only way to fall out of the first round is through luxury tax penalties, which the Yankees (and Dodgers and Mets) did this year. Picking so late will up the surprise factor come draft day.

4. Rapid fire thoughts. The Yankees promoted top prospect George Lombard Jr. to Double-A Somerset on Sunday, reports Jeff Passan. He hit .329/.495/.488 (184 wRC+) with more walks (20.7%) than strikeouts (19.8%) with High-A Hudson Valley this year. Lombard does not turn 20 until June 2nd. This is a very aggressive promotion even for a team that moves its top position player prospects pretty aggressively. Including the postseason, Jasson Domínguez played 10 Double-A games as a 19-year-old in 2022. Before him, the last Yankees’ prospect to see Double-A time as a teenager was 19-year-old Jesus Montero in 2009 (44 games). If Lombard struggles, it will be understandable. If he rakes, then we can start to dream.

(Send your requests for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com. The random Yankee series is on hiatus, but feel free to send in requests for when it returns.)