April 22nd, 2025: Fried, Judge, Williams, Power, Hill, Prospects

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1. Weekend thoughts. The old saying is every team will win 50 games and lose 50 games each year, and it’s what you do in the other 62 games that defines your season. Monday’s game felt like one of those 50 losses. Just one of those “nope, not happening tonight” games. Fell behind early, banged into a double play whenever a few guys reached, then ran out of outs once the offense started to do things. So it goes. Here are a few thoughts on the last few games.

Max Fried and a case of the Sundays

I’m not entirely sure where to start with Sunday’s game so I’ll start with Fried, who was outstanding again, and needed to be because the bullpen was completely fried (pun intended). His latest gem: 7.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K (video) on 102 pitches. I knew Fried was very good, but there are only so many hours in the day and I can’t say I watched many of his starts the last few years. He’s even better than I realized.

“He’s incredible. Everything that people have said about him from afar, he’s the real deal,” Aaron Judge told Bryan Hoch. “You see it up close, especially to lose a guy like Gerrit Cole, who you can’t replace, and then you sub in Max Fried to go and be that ace for us. It’s been fun to watch.”

Fried took a no-hitter into the eighth and lost it not when he gave up a hit, but when the official scorer changed a call he made earlier in the game. Paul Goldschmidt fumbled a Chandler Simpson grounder in the sixth and it was ruled an error, initially. Two innings later, the call was changed to a hit, so Fried went from working on a no-hitter to retroactively working on a one-hitter. Can’t remember seeing that before.

Here’s the play. That’s clearly a hit, right? Fried was not beating the crazy fast Simpson to the bag. Think of all the booted grounders and dropped line drives we see scored hits instead of errors these days, and then that was scored an error lol. So many would-be errors are scored hits these days that the conspiracy theorist in me thinks MLB told official scorers to do that to raise the league batting average.

ANYWAY, scoring changes are made innings (sometimes days!) after the fact all the time. How many times a year do we hear “the official scorer has changed the third inning error on the shortstop to a hit, so Judge has another single?” The only reason folks are up in arms about this scoring change is the no-hitter component. I get it, but a scoring change two innings later is a thing that happens. There’s no anti-Yankees conspiracy here.

"I scratch my head at official scorers nightly,” Aaron Boone told Chris Kirschner. “They throw an error at Yankee Stadium up on the board at Yankee Stadium and then we go to these other places and they can fire up a hit with the best of them."

Fried gave up a legit hit in the eighth inning, so the scoring change ultimately did not matter. And he said he didn’t know about the scoring change until after he left the game, so it’s not like he went to the mound knowing the no-hitter was over, and changed his approach. The scoring change will ultimately go down as a funny little footnote to another Fried gem. Man is he good. It’s only five starts, but he is as advertised.

A half-inning after Fried lost the no-hitter, Judge lost a home run when it was called foul, and the replay crew did not see enough evidence to overturn it. It was announced that the call “stands” and that is official language. “Stands” means not enough evidence to overturn, “confirmed” means there is conclusive evidence the call was correct, and “overturned” means there’s conclusive evidence the call was incorrect. The foul call was announced as "stands."

Here’s the play. The replay appeared to show the ball staying fair and not by a little bit either, though to be fair, the foul pole at George M. Steinbrenner Field is short and the camera angle doesn't look straight down the line. It is offset a little bit. (Play in minor league stadiums, get minor league foul poles and camera angles). But still, look at this:

"It was a fair ball,” Judge told Hoch. “It's just tough in a situation like this, in a minor league park where the foul poles aren't that high. They missed it and we've just got to move on."

Whenever Judge retires, we’ll have to remember to add two home runs to his career total. There was the triple into the right-center field seats that replay failed to overturn in 2017 (video), and now this. However good you think Judge is, remember he’s actually two homers better than that. Watch him retire two homers short of Barry Bonds’ record. The hell I will raise from my little corner of the internet.

(We have this amazing ball and bat-tracking data now. Can they not use that to determine fair or foul? Why are we leaving this up to camera angles that vary by ballpark?)

Anyway, the foul call stood and Judge was eventually called out on strikes. He argued a bit with the home plate ump, Boone ran out of the dugout to protect him, and got tossed. Boone was wearing out the ump all game and the ejection was a few innings coming. I gotta say though, Boone getting ejected from his own pitcher’s no-hit bid is an incredible commitment to the bit. There is no game the man is unwilling to leave.

It could have been/should have been (more on that in a sec) a sweep, but winning three of four in Tampa is still really good. Fried was awesome in an otherwise weird finale Sunday. There was the scoring change, Judge’s non-homer, Boone getting tossed from a no-hitter, a lot of defensive and baserunning adventures, etc. The 2025 Yankees are a lot of things. I’m not sure “normal” is one of them.

Williams and the closer’s role

This is what I get for saying I wasn’t overly worried about Devin Williams. He had two quick 1-2-3 innings last week and I thought all was well (or at least trending in the right direction), then Williams blew a four-run ninth inning lead Saturday, and the Yankees got walked off in the tenth. The Yankees are 12-24 in road extra-inning games in the automatic runner era. If you’d have told me they were 2-34, I would have believed it.

“A four-run lead, you’d like to get in and get out,” Williams told Hoch. “I made some good pitches, made some bad ones. Not enough good ones today.”

Williams’ stuff is where it needs to be. His fastball velocity is in line with past Aprils and his fastball and Airbender movement are right where they always are. The problem remains location. Seven walks to 41 batters (17.1%) and, when he misses, Williams has either missed way off the plate for an easy take or in the middle of the zone, enough for the batter to get the barrel on the ball. 

Oswaldo Cabrera made an error on what would have been the second out of the ninth inning to start that rally Saturday, which sucked, but one error can’t spiral into a four-run inning. Williams then walked the No. 9 hitter, Ben Rortvedt, which a) can’t happen, and b) is a 2025 Yankees’ specialty. The Yankees have walked the opposing No. 9 hitter 10 times in 82 plate appearances, or 12.2%. Come on man.

The error was bad and the Rortvedt walk was bad. The biggest mistake was the two-strike changeup that Brandon Lowe dumped into center for the game-tying two-run single. This sums up the April 2025 Devin Williams experience well. Austin Wells wanted the pitch here …

… but Williams threw it here …

… and that was enough of the plate for Lowe to get the fat part of the bat on the ball, and push it over the infield. It was a bloop (80.9 mph), not a rocket, and Lowe’s 21.0% swinging strike rate is second highest among 170 qualified hitters. In a two-strike count, the strikeout was there for the taking. Execute the changeup where Wells wanted it, and Lowe whiffs. Instead, it was in the zone. Terrible.

“Guys tend to gravitate toward their best pitch. He's got one of the best changeups in the game,” Lowe told Hoch, admitting the obvious (he was expecting an Airbender). “Just understanding that that's going to be the pitch that he goes to."

Williams has never been a control artist. He entered the season with a career 11.8 BB% and 43.6% zone rate, which is well below the 51.5% league average. Williams made it work because he excelled at getting weak contact (career 85.2 mph exit velocity entering 2025) and whiffs (39.4 K%). The exit velocity this year is closer to league average (88.1 mph) but not bad. It’s just no longer elite. The whiffs though:

2022-24 strikeouts: 39.5%
2025 strikeouts: 19.5%

2022-24 swinging strikes: 18.0%
2025 swinging strikes: 9.5%

2022-24 changeup whiff rate: 44.2%
2025 changeup whiff rate: 22.4%

Williams’ core bat-missing ability has been cut in half, and you can see why when he’s leaving two-strike changeups in the middle of the zone. This is annoying and Williams has to get it together. It’s good that, stuff-wise, he’s where he needs to be. It’s a location/execution issue, which doesn’t mean it’s an easy fix, but it is better than wondering where 3 mph of velocity went or whatever.

Closer meltdowns feel like the end of the world, especially when the starters don’t give much length and the offense isn’t slugging (more on that in a bit), and you fight hard to build a lead only to watch it disappear. It’s disheartening and it’s bad, and it feels like the fatal flaw that is going to sink the season, but this is an easy fix, right? Just make Luke Weaver the closer and bam, problem solved.

I don’t expect Boone and the Yankees to demote Williams out of the closer’s role anytime soon – they let Clay Holmes blow 11 (!) saves before demoting him last year – but, if they decide to do it, they can plug Weaver into the ninth, use Fernando Cruz and Mark Leiter Jr. in the seventh and eighth innings, and let Williams work through things in lower leverage spots. That’s the late-inning alternative.

This is not a “oh crap, who’s going to close?” question. It’s a “will the Yankees actually demote Williams?” question, and also a “what does a demotion look like?” question. The Yankees demoted Holmes last year but still used him in high leverage spots. He wasn’t the closer but he still pitched in close games in the seventh and eighth innings. They changed his inning but not necessarily his role, you know?

So, even if the Yankees take the drastic early season step of demoting Williams, there’s no guarantee Boone will let him work through things in lower leverage innings. He might use him in close games in the eighth inning instead, and what’s the difference? Well, whatever. Williams needs to get it together. The Yankees aren’t gonna demote him in April, and he needs to put an end to his conversation soon.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Boone told Hoch. “It’s a little bump here early. He’s got all the equipment to get through it.”

Return of the SLG

The Yankees had two doubles and three homers in Sunday’s win after having three extra-base hits in the first three games of the Rays series. Heading into Sunday, the Yankees had 27 extra-base hits and a .348 SLG in their previous 13 games. They had 10 homers in those 13 games and four came in one game, and three of the four came in one inning. The Yankees stopped slugging for a good two weeks there. The explanation for the lack of SLG starts here:

• Cody Bellinger: 9-for-64 (.141) with 25.7 K% in his last 18 games

• Jazz Chisholm Jr.: 9-for-75 (.120) with 32.1 K% in his last 20 games

• Anthony Volpe: 7-for-46 (.152) with 30.9 K% in his last 14 games

• Austin Wells: 10-for-60 (.167) with 25.0 K% in his last 18 games

Those guys have hit in the top/middle of the lineup just about all season and they’ve been black holes the last three weeks or so. Bellinger’s home run Sunday was his first since the second game of the season, when the Yankees hit those very fun back-to-back-to-back homers off Nestor Cortes. Volpe has not gone deep since the Diamondbacks series. Those are lengthy droughts.

Jasson Domínguez has had his moments (how in the world did he hit this pitch 445 ft?) but has largely been low impact, third base won’t provide much power, and Goldschmidt hasn’t gone deep since the day the Yankees ambushed Nestor. He’s gotta start driving the ball soon (career low exit velocity, hard-hit rate, barrel rate, etc.), otherwise the crash back to Earth when his .456 BABIP corrects won’t be pretty.

The Yankees have scored more than four runs just three times in their last 15 games because, again, they haven’t slugged. Judge, Trent Grisham, and Ben Rice have provided almost all the power the last few weeks and have driven the bus offensively. With the way things are going right now, the lineup should be …

1. Ben Rice
2. Aaron Judge
3. Trent Grisham
4. Paul Goldschmidt
5-9. Everyone else

… until some of the other dudes start putting together better at-bats and getting results. The Yankees need more out of Bellinger and Chisholm especially. They’ve been productive hitters in their careers and they’re in their primes. Hopefully these two (and Volpe) snap out of these funks right as Grisham and Rice (and Goldschmidt) begin to level out. Such are the ebbs and flows of the season.

Bottom line though, the Yankees had a two-week span where they didn’t hit for much power at all, and it’s hard to win that way in the year 2025. Singles can only take you so far. Two homers and a double Monday gives the Yankees eight extra-base hits in the last two games, or as many as they had in their previous five games combined. Hopefully this is a sign the  Yankees are rediscovering their power stroke. 

In appreciation of Tim Hill

It’s pretty wild that Hill went from being released by the White Sox to being a legit high leverage option for the Yankees almost literally overnight. The Yankees re-signed Hill just before Spring Training and he has a 2.70 ERA (1.63 FIP) in the early days of this season. He’s faced 38 batters. The breakdown:

• 23 ground balls (88.5% of balls in play)

• 10 strikeouts (26.3% of batters faced)

• 3 line drives

• 2 walks

Hill has allowed seven hits and three were infield singles. He’s done this while throwing 88-90 mph sinkers and four-seamers a combined 98% of the time, and to basically the same part of the strike zone:

Is there a more predictable pitcher on the Yankees? In the league? Hill’s gonna pound one side of the plate with low velocity fastballs, and hitters can't do anything with it. What a fascinating pitcher. I’ve become bored with “journeyman reliever becomes awesome” stories, every smart team does it, but Hill is so unique and also fun and easy to root for. One of my favorite current Yankees. What a delight.

Miscellany

Several pitchers had their best velocity of the season in Tampa, presumably because it was nice and warm. Weaver threw his two fastest and 12 of his 22 fastest pitches of 2025 against the Rays, which is good, though he still topped out at 95.8 mph. Last year’s season average was 95.7 mph. Weaver’s been awesome even with diminished velocity, though I’d like to see him get all the way back into the mid-90s soon so he can be the best version of himself … Cleveland’s lefties/switch-hitters hammered Clarke Schmidt on Monday (7-for-17 with two doubles, two homers, and three walks), who still looks like a pitcher trying to find a rhythm after his Spring Training was interrupted by two separate injuries. Hopefully it doesn’t take too much longer. The Yankees need another competent starter. Schmidt at least got his pitch count up to 80. Figure he’ll get to 90 or so next time … The Yankees needed Fried to be great Sunday because the bullpen has been run into the ground this last week between short starts (Will Warren and Carlos Carrasco) and the offense not blowing games open. This was the bullpen budget going into Sunday’s game (via James Smyth):

It’s a lot of pitches, a lot of back-to-backs, a lot of three in four days, etc. Nine times in 23 games the starter has failed to complete five innings. Twice each turn through the rotation, basically. I know how this works. In a week or two we’ll be talking about this reliever and that reliever having to pitch because he needs work, but, right now, the bullpen is carrying an awfully heavy workload … The other team, particularly a smart team like the Rays, will tell you a lot about your players, and the Rays told us they believe Volpe can’t handle velocity, even in the strike zone. Look at his swings and misses during the four games in Tampa:

That is the “here it is, try to hit” approach in pitch graph form. It wasn’t until Volpe faced Ryan Pepiot and his 93 mph heater Sunday that he really got into a fastball and drove it. Volpe’s still swinging harder than ever and making harder contact than ever, and so far this year he’s been the same streaky hitter with extreme peaks and valleys … The Rays replaced the infield dirt at GMS Field with the stuff they use at Tropicana Field and there were weird hops and bobbles all weekend. Grounders jumping up higher than expected, spinning to either side, etc. It was an adventurous series defensively and on the bases for both teams … And finally, shoutout to Oswaldo Cabrera. His .302/.373/.377 (125 wRC+) line is way better than I ever expected, even in a 23-game sample. No idea how long it’ll last. I’ll enjoy it while it does.

Injury updates

Rice (elbow) went for x-rays and an MRI after that hit-by-pitch Saturday (video) and he doesn’t have a fracture. He was able to pinch-hit Monday and I assume he’ll be back in the starting lineup Tuesday. Rice’s absence allowed the Yankees to give Judge two DH days, something they haven’t been able to do much this year because they’ve needed the DH spot for Rice … Clayton Beeter (shoulder) started a rehab assignment with Low-A Tampa Sunday and struck out all four batters he faced. Statcast had his fastball in the 95-98 mph range, which is very good velocity for the first rehab game after a shoulder injury. Give Beeter a few more rehab games to get his legs under him and he’ll be an up/down option for the Yankees … Jonathan Loáisiga (elbow) will likely start a rehab assignment with Low-A Tampa on Saturday. Elbow surgery pitchers can spend up to 60 days on rehab, though I don’t expect the Yankees to take that long with Loáisiga. Maybe 5-6 appearances? … DJ LeMahieu (calf) will start a rehab assignment with Double-A Somerset today. We’ll see how that goes … Marcus Stroman (knee) still has discomfort in his knee. He’s eligible to come off the injured list Sunday, but it doesn’t sound like that will happen … And finally, a Triple-A injury of note: Brandon Leibrandt was placed on Scranton’s 7-day injured list over the weekend. Not sure what’s wrong with him, but that’s another piece of pitching depth on the shelf. Hopefully it’s a short-term thing. Available pitchers > injured pitchers.

Up next

Two more games in Cleveland and then a badly needed off-day. The entire bullpen needs a week off. The Blue Jays will be in the Bronx this coming weekend for a quick three-game homestand. Here’s what’s coming up this week:

• Tuesday at Guardians: RHP Will Warren vs. RHP Tanner Bibee (6pm ET on YES)

• Wednesday at Guardians: LHP Carlos Rodón vs. RHP Luis Ortiz (1pm ET on YES)

• Thursday: off-day

The Yankees can use Thursday’s off-day to push Carrasco’s next start back and yeah, they should definitely do that. In fact, the Yankees have the next four Thursdays off, plus the Monday after the fourth Thursday. They will need a No. 5 starter only three times in the next 27 games. That means a heavier workload for the other four starters and the Yankees maybe don’t want to do that so early in the season, but using off-days to limit Carrasco starts these next four weeks is an option available to them.

2. Prospect thoughts. Remember Jasson Domínguez’s double off Logan Webb last weekend (video)? That double is notable because it was Domínguez’s 131st career at-bat. With that, he exceeded the 130 at-bat rookie limit, and is no longer prospect-eligible. El Marciano has graduated to the big leagues. Will Warren is next in line to graduate. He's 11.2 innings away from the 50-inning rookie limit, so figure another 2-3 starts. Here are my Top 30 Prospects and here are some early season prospect thoughts and notes.

Jones hitting for power early

In terms of raw power, OF Spencer Jones might have more than anyone in the minors, though his career high is the 17 homers he hit in 122 games with Double-A Somerset last year. Jones produces top of the scale exit velocities with a seemingly effortless swing, yet 17 homers is his career high. Not 25 or 30, just 17. Last year he was 61st in the minors in plate appearances but only 123rd in home runs.

This season, Jones is getting to his power early. He has six homers already with Somerset, including two two-homer games (video). Last season he didn’t hit his sixth home run until June 9th. Jones is slashing .236/.354/.582 (167 wRC+) with the new torpedo bats through 15 games this year. Here are the numbers that we’re all watching:

• 2024: 36.8 K% and 18.0% swinging strikes

• 2025: 33.8 K% and 19.2% swinging strikes

Still a lot of swing and miss in Jones’ game. Too much, really. That 19.2% swinging strike rate would rank sixth among qualified big league hitters, and Jones is doing it in Double-A. It’s great the power is showing up more this year, but we’re still waiting on the bat-to-ball improvement. Jones will never be a contact machine. Can he get to, say, 27 K% and a 14% swinging strike rate? That might be good enough.

Also, Jones has played two games in left field this year. Those are the first two left field games of his career. It is common for outfield prospects to bounce between the three spots. It’s just that Jones did not do it at all prior to this season. He played center field only prior to 2025. Jones has an Aaron Judge going on in that he’s freakishly athletic for his size. Defense is the least of the concerns here.

I’m not sure how long the Yankees plan to keep Jones in Somerset. He’s repeating the level (154 career games in Double-A), so I don’t think they want to keep him there too much longer, but also the Yankees typically use Triple-A Scranton as a finishing school for their tippy top prospects. Look how many Triple-A games these dudes played:

• Jasson Domínguez: 53 games even with Tommy John surgery rehab

• Austin Wells: 33 games

• Anthony Volpe: 22 games

There are exceptions (Everson Pereira, Oswald Peraza, etc.) and maybe Jones will be one of them, but the Yankees don’t seem to place a ton of developmental value in Triple-A. It’s not a place where they think you have to spend a full season to prepare for the big leagues. It could be that Jones will spend most of the year in Somerset, make a quick pit stop in Scranton, then maybe be an MLB option in September? I dunno. He's gotta cut down on the whiffs first.

Lombard’s hot start

The SS George Lombard Jr. hype has been through the roof the last few weeks (he jumped from No. 88 to No. 38 on Baseball America’s top 100 list in the span of Spring Training) and he's justifying it early this season with High-A Hudson Valley: .302/.446/.442 (163 wRC+) with a homer and nearly as many walks (20.7%) as strikeouts (22.4%) in 13 games. Here are a few highlights (here’s another). His opposite field power is legit. Impressive.

Still only 19, Lombard is two full years younger than the average High-A South Atlantic League player. Only two of his 56 plate appearances have come against pitchers younger than him. Not much more to add here. It’s only been 13 games. Just wanted to note Lombard is off to a terrific start. With Domínguez graduating, Lombard is the consensus No. 1 prospect in the system, and he looks the part so far in 2025.

Hess and the High-A rotation

Two starts, two dandies for RHP Ben Hess, last year’s first round pick. He’s on a pitch limit like seemingly every other pitching prospect in baseball early in the season, so he’s not going deep into games, but the innings Hess is throwing are really great:

• April 9th: 4.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K (video) on 71 pitches

• April 16th: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K (video) on 75 pitches

Following his last start, Mark Chiarelli (subs. req’d) wrote Hess “showed two distinct breaking balls in that outing – he had much better command of his curveball in cold conditions – along with a changeup,” which matches up with the scouting report coming into 2025. He hasn’t picked up a knuckleball or anything. The South Atlantic League is not a Statcast league, so we’re in the dark on velocity, spin, etc. Alas.

The two big questions with Hess coming into this year were health (flexor strain in 2023) and control (11.5 BB% at Alabama last spring). The health is what it is. He’s healthy now but who knows if he’ll be healthy next week. As for the control, three walks to 38 batters (7.9%) is a very nice start to the season. Hess had a 9.4 BB% his first two years in college. The control issues really only popped up last year. I'm hopeful Hess will iron out the strike-throwing quickly. Too early to say for sure, but so far, so good.

Thanks to their prospect-laden rotation, High-A Hudson Valley has the league’s best record (11-4) to start the season. Here is what Hudson Valley’s four non-Hess prospect starters have done early on this year:

• RHP Bryce Cunningham: 18 IP, 16 H, 8 R, 2 BB, 22 K, 1 HR (video)

• RHP Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz: 16 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 BB, 18 K (video)

• RHP Carlos Lagrange: 9 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 3 BB, 16 K (video)

• LHP Kyle Carr: 12 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 7 BB, 11 K

Cunningham had one terrible inning (five runs in the first on April 13th) and has otherwise been lights-out. Last time out he fanned nine in seven scoreless innings. Rodriguez-Cruz struck out nine in 6.2 innings in his last start. One of my inside baseball pals insists Rodriguez-Cruz is the best pitching prospect in the system. Lagrange had one bad start (5 R in 3 IP) and one great start (9 K in 6 IP).

Carr, Lagrange, and Rodriguez-Cruz are slower burns who figure to spend most or all of the season with Hudson Valley. Cunningham and Hess are SEC battle-tested guys who I have to think the Yankees would like to get to Double-A Somerset before long. Maybe June? Fingers crossed they make it happen. Three weeks into the minor league season, Hudson Valley’s rotation is as good as advertised.

Beck’s return

The Yankees selected RHP Brendan Beck with the No. 55 pick in 2021 and paid him a $1.05M bonus. He then made 10 starts from 2022-24 around Tommy John surgery and a second elbow procedure. Beck is healthy now, and he’s allowed one hit in 10 scoreless innings with Somerset. He’s struck out 10 and last time out he retired 18 of 19 batters faced (video). The only baserunner came on an error. 

“At this point, the time I’ve missed is in the past,” Beck told Mike Ashmore after his season debut. “There’s nothing I can really do about it. Obviously I would have preferred to be out there all these past few years, but I’m really excited about the team we have here and just being back and having a good year this year.”

I haven’t seen or heard anything about Beck’s stuff (the broadcast gun had his fastball in the 91-92 mph range) though the book on him before his elbow blew out was a low-90s fastball with a curveball, a slider, a changeup, and plus command. The hope was Beck would add velocity under pro instruction and really turn into something. Could still happen, though obviously it’s much less likely now.

Beck is already 26, and he turns 27 in October. He’s already Rule 5 Draft eligible too. I’m guessing the Yankees want to fast track this guy and get him to Triple-A soon. Within the next few weeks. I don’t think this will be a full year in Double-A thing. First things first: Beck has to stay healthy and perform. Once he settles in though, I bet he moves up to Scranton. No reason to slow play this.

Miscellany

2B Jorbit Vivas has started the season very well with Triple-A Scranton: .342/.432/.493 (153 wRC+) with two homers and way more walks (11.2%) than strikeouts (4.5%). He’s also played more third base (11 games) than second base (10 games) and that’s not a coincidence. That's where the big league team needs help. Vivas is up now with Trent Grisham on the paternity list. Maybe he'll get into a game this time (he was up for three days last year but didn't play) … RHP Greysen Carter, last year’s hard-throwing/control-challenged fourth round pick, has 10 walks in 10.2 innings in his three starts with Low-A Tampa. Eli Ben-Porat (subs. req’d) notes Carter’s fastball has hit 100.7 mph this year, but it also has “dead zone” shape, meaning a lack of movement that makes it easy to square up. Guys with dead zone four-seamers usually shift to a sinker, so we’ll see if that happens at some point … C Edgleen Perez must have suffered a minor injury in Spring Training. It wasn’t until this past weekend that he caught back-to-back games. He was alternating catcher days and DH days to start the season, and didn’t catch a full nine innings until his third game behind the plate. That’s usually how they build catchers up in Spring Training, so Perez must have been slowed by something in March. Perez, 18, is hitting .159/.351/.182 (77 wRC+) in 13 games with Low-A Tampa … And finally, the entire Low-A Tampa team is going through it offensively. The Tarpons are hitting .196/.314/.296 through 15 games. Yeesh. Somehow they’re 7-8 through 15 games and not like 4-11.

3. Rapid fire thoughts. The Guardians DFAed Triston McKenzie prior to Monday’s game. He looked like the next great Cleveland pitcher in 2022, when he threw 191.1 innings with a 2.96 ERA (3.59 FIP), but an elbow injury ruined his 2023, and he hasn’t been the same since. McKenzie’s line in low leverage bullpen work this year: 5.2 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 7 BB, 4 K with a 98 Stuff+. He and Matt Blake overlapped in Cleveland’s minor league system a few years ago, so I guess the Yankees could kick the tires, but I dunno, not much here other than name value these days. The Guardians are one of the top pitcher development teams in the sport too. If they cut bait, McKenzie must be really cooked. It’s a shame. 

(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.)