August 26th, 2024: Judge, Soto, Stanton, Torres, Tonkin, Prospects

Old Timers’ Day was Saturday and, depending who you ask, the players either want an Old Timers’ Game (CC Sabathia) or say they can’t do it because everything hurts (Jorge Posada). Isn’t the solution to have an Old Timers’ Game for the guys who want to play, and anyone who doesn’t want to play doesn’t have to? Even a softball game would be cool. You don’t need innings or teams. Just let guys hit and pitch in whatever order, and if you have to put a ball boy in left field because you don’t have enough players, so be it. It can be very informal. The Q&A session was fine. A bit awkward at times, but fine. I could live without it. Bring back the Old Timers’ Game, Yankees. Here’s the 2009 World Series tribute video they played and here is Tuesday morning’s post Monday. I’m gonna be busy tonight and figured I’d get this out of my hair now. Plus posts make more sense between series, right? Right.

1. Weekend thoughts. The Rockies series was the second straight series the Yankees won two of three, and the one loss was one of the worst games you’ll watch all season. Need to tighten that up. Good series though. The Yankees could use a sweep at some point – they haven’t swept a series since Philadelphia at the end of July – but keep winning series and things will take care of themselves. Here are a few thoughts on the Rockies series.

I didn’t know baseball players could be this good 

Aaron Judge hit his 49th home run Friday night (video) and I thought he might hit his 50th before anyone else got to 40, but no, Shohei Ohtani hit a friggin’ walk-off grand slam later that night to join the 40/40 club. The talent in the game these days is just unreal. Judge is one of the greatest hitters ever and Ohtani went 40/40 (with a chance at 50/50) the year he’s not pitching. What a delight it is to watch players like this.

"I’m kinda running out of words to say,” Aaron Boone told Erik Boland after Judge hit his 49th homer. “You’re witnessing greatness. You really are. He’s just kinda better than everyone."

That 49th home run was another one of those homers that reminds you Judge is more than an elite power hitter. He’s an elite hitter period. It’s a fastball running in on him and Judge pulls his hands in and alligator arms it into the seats. Derek Jeter is in the Hall of Fame because he could inside-out those pitches to right field for singles. Judge hits them five rows deep. Mere mortals can not do this and hit home runs:

Judge hit his 50th and 51st homers Sunday (video). He’s the fifth player with three 50-homer seasons, joining Mark McGwire, Alex Rodriguez, Babe Ruth, and Sammy Sosa. Judge has seven home runs in his last six games and 19 homers in his last 36 games. He’s hitting .333/.465/.736 (226 wRC+) overall and .377/.506/.844 (263 wRC+) since the admittedly arbitrary date of April 27th. Here is the AL/NL single-season OPS+ leaderboard:

1. Barry Bonds, 2002: 268 OPS+
2. Barry Bonds, 2004: 263 OPS+
3. Barry Bonds, 2001: 259 OPS+
4. Babe Ruth, 1920: 255 OPS+
5. Babe Ruth, 1923: 239 OPS+
6. Babe Ruth, 1921: 239 OPS+
7. Ted Williams, 1941: 235 OPS+
8. Ted Williams, 1957: 233 OPS+
9. Barry Bonds, 2003: 231 OPS+
10. Aaron Judge, 2024: 230 OPS+

This is one of the ten best offensive seasons in AL/NL history. It’s the best by a right-handed hitter. Bonds, Ruth, and Williams are all lefties. All-time great right-handed hitters like Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Albert Pujols, and Mike Schmidt never had seasons like this and they’re in the inner circle of the inner circle of the Hall of Fame. The Yankees have 31 games remaining, so the season is not over, but it is late August. This is not some early season small sample size silliness. How is this even happening? How is this real?

Judge’s 230 OPS+ would be the 23rd best month by any hitter since Bonds was blackballed out of the game after 2004. There have been only 22 months better than Judge’s entire 2024 season over the last two decades. I think my favorite tidbit is that three of the seven best months since Bonds belong to Judge, and they’re not consecutive:

1. Aaron Judge: 293 OPS+ in May 2024
2. Shohei Ohtani: 286 OPS+ in June 2023
3. Lance Berkman: 278 OPS+ in May 2008
4. Aaron Judge: 274 OPS+ in Sept. 2022
5. Cody Bellinger: 270 OPS+ in April 2019
6. Mookie Betts: 260 OPS+ in Aug. 2023
7. Aaron Judge: 256 OPS+ in Sept. 2017

Judge didn’t get molten hot and rattle off three straight months that put him in the top seven. He’s in there with three different months in three different seasons, two of which are eight years apart. I first wrote about Judge as a draft prospect in May 2013. Eleven years later, he’s the greatest Yankee I’ve ever seen. Others are more decorated and have lengthier resumes, but in terms of pure output, he’s the best ever. The guy hit 52 home runs as a rookie and it will be no better than his third best season.

And remember, Judge is doing this in 2024. It’s harder to hit right now than it has ever been at any point in baseball history. J.J. Cooper wrote about this last week. Pitchers throw harder than ever, they have breaking balls that are literally designed in a (pitching) lab, their usage is optimized to the nth degree, etc. The decks have never been more stacked against hitters, and yet Judge is doing this.

There is not a doubt in my mind Judge will hit 63 home runs and break his own AL single-season home run record as long as teams pitch to him, which is not a given. Judge has walked 27 times in his last 27 games. Nine of those were intentional, officially, though he has also been pitched around several other times as well (Judge leads baseball in four-pitch walks by a lot). If teams pitch to him, Judge will hit 63 home runs. If they don’t, he still might hit 63 homers. He’s that good.

"Once we get locked in, I’ll let you guys know,” Judge told Gary Phillips after Friday’s win. “There's always work to be done. I was 1-for-4 today. I missed an opportunity with guys on base. I hit into a double play. There's always room to improve."

Back-to-back-to-back and belly-to-belly-to-belly

I was worried they would run out of season and not do it, but Sunday afternoon, it happened. Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton hit back-to-back-to-back home runs off poor Jeff Criswell, who was pitching in his third big league game. They did it in the span of five pitches. Here’s the video. After that, Yankee Stadium was buzzing the rest of the game, and the crowd chanted “Re-Sign So-To!”

“They have to talk to Cashman,” Soto joked about the chants after the game (video). 

Soto, Judge, and Stanton are the first Yankees to hit back-to-back-to-back homers since Brett Gardner, DJ LeMahieu, and Luke Voit on Sept. 17th, 2020. Those were part of the five-homer inning against Chase Anderson (video). For Soto and Judge, it was their sixth set of back-to-back homers this season, tying the franchise single-season record held by Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira in 2009.

That is not the all-time record. I thought it was, but Katie Sharp set me straight, as she often does. The all-time record is eight sets of back-to-back homers by Andres Galarraga and Larry Walker with the 1997 Rockies. Soto and Judge have 31 games to hit three more sets of back-to-back homers to set the record. Thirty-one games? Pffft, they might do it by Thursday.

Soto and Judge have been incredible all season. This is unreal stuff. Stanton though, he’s starting to get hot – three home runs in his last three games and five in his last 12 games – and his .245/.305/.495 (123 wRC+) line is more than I expected coming into 2024. The guy hit .191/.275/.420 (87 wRC+) last year and he’s at the age when it can go quickly. I even released him in the Offseason Plan!

Instead, Giancarlo’s having a nice bounceback season and is a real presence in the middle of the lineup behind Soto and Judge. This isn’t peak Stanton, and hovering around a .300 OBP is not great, but the power is legit and that’s what the Yankees need most. Remove plate appearances that end in a homer and Soto and Judge still have a .401 OBP combined. They're standing on base a lot. Someone has to drive them in. That’s Big G.

Also, Gleyber Torres! Torres had a walk, a single, and a homer Sunday (video). Since moving back into the leadoff spot on Aug. 16th, he is 10-for-33 (.303) with eight walks and six strikeouts in nine games. That’s a .439 OBP. Have the Yankees finally found their leadoff hitter? I’m not ready to say that yet. Let’s make sure this is more than a nine-game heater first. Gleyber's teased us a few times this season. I tell you what though, Torres in the leadoff spot, Austin Wells and Stanton in the middle of the order … things are coming together.

Tonkin DFAed

The Michael Tonkin era is over. After allowing two runs in 1.2 innings Saturday, Tonkin was DFAed Sunday, and Phil Bickford was brought back as a fresh arm*. Tonkin allowed 16 runs in his last 19.1 innings and only three of his last 12 appearances were scoreless. In those 12 games opponents hit .304/.382/.506 against him, and let’s be real here, 12 appearances is way more than most waiver claim types get to work through things.

“Tough one today. Tonk’s been great. He pitched well for us, been a great teammate. Difficult decision there,” Boone said Sunday about the decision to DFA Tonkin (video). “… Just felt like we needed a little more coverage (in the bullpen) today. That’s really what it comes down to.”

* Me on July 9th, after the Yankees DFAed then re-signed Bickford: “Odds we see Bickford back with the Yankees later this season are annoyingly high.” Sometimes you can predict baseball, Suzyn.

Tonkin was legitimately excellent his first three months as a Yankee, pitching to a 1.47 ERA (3.01 FIP) with a 25.9 K% in 27 appearances and 36.2 innings. The Yankees had him throw more sinkers and sliders, and got nearly 40 great innings out of him before things went south. Tonkin had a 124 ERA+ with the Yankees and got DFAed. It be like that sometimes. The Yankees churned through arms like crazy in April and Tonkin really stabilized things for a few weeks. They got way more out of him than I think anyone expected.

Why Bickford over Nick Burdi, Scott Effross, or Ron Marinaccio? Availability. Burdi, Effross, and Marinaccio all pitched Saturday for Triple-A Scranton. Bickford last pitched last Wednesday, and he threw at least two innings in three of his last four appearances with the RailRiders. He was the most rested and best positioned to give the Yankees innings Sunday. That’s all there is to it.

Bickford allowed nine runs in five innings with the Yankees earlier this season. He’s just a body for the time being, not someone they’re going to ask to get high leverage outs (I think). Ian Hamilton shouldn’t need more than one or two more rehab appearances, plus the Yankees could always swap Bickford out for Burdi, Effross, or Marinaccio in a day or two. Godspeed, Tonkin. See you at the World Series ring ceremony.

(Tonkin can elect free agency if he clears waivers, though he doesn’t have enough service time to do that and keep the remainder of his $1M contract. If he clears waivers, I would expect him to report to Scranton. The guy has already been claimed off waivers three times this season though, and teams are increasingly desperate for arms this time of year. I bet Tonkin gets claimed.)

Another Old Timers’ Day loss

You’re not imagining things. The Yankees have lost a lot – A LOT – on Old Timers’ Day the last few years. Lost a lot and lost badly. This year it was a listless 9-2 loss to the Rockies. Here’s what the Yankees have done on Old Timers’ Day since the current Yankee Stadium opened (no Old Timers’ Day in 2020 or 2021 because of the pandemic):

• 2024: 9-2 loss to Rockies

• 2023: 9-2 loss to Brewers

• 2022: 8-2 win over Royals

• 2019: 9-4 loss to Astros

• 2018: 3-1 loss to Rays

• 2017: 7-6 loss to Rangers

• 2016: 4-1 loss to Tigers

• 2015: 14-3 win over Tigers

• 2014: 8-0 loss to Orioles

• 2013: 3-1 loss to Rays

• 2012: 4-2 win over White Sox

• 2011: 6-4 win over Rockies

• 2010: 10-5 loss to Rays

• 2009: 2-1 win over Tigers

The Yankees are 5-9 and have been outscored 74-55 on Old Timers’ Day since 2009. They’re 1-6 on the last seven Old Timers’ Days and 2-8 on their last 10 Old Timers’ Days. The Old Timers’ Day loss in 2019 snapped an eight-game winning streak too. The Yankees immediately followed it with a five-game winning streak, so the Old Timers’ Day loss was the one loss in a 14-1 stretch. Old Timers’ Day is cursed.

Is there a reason for this? It’s easy to come up with a narrative that this group of players can’t handle the bright lights, being around all-time greats, so on and so forth. I mean, yeah, maybe that’s true, but I think it’s just an unfortunate coincidence. That doesn’t mean I’m not annoyed by it. I’m just not willing to say there is a deeper meaning here, and I’d feel the same way if they’d won a bunch of Old Timers’ Day games. It is what it is.

Miscellany

One more thing on Judge: He has not struck out in his last 27 plate appearances. His last strikeout was his last at-bat in the Little League Classic last Sunday. Judge has a career low 23.4 K%. His previous career low was 25.0 K% in 2021. Guy who hits the ball harder than anyone is making more contact than ever. In related news, Judge is having one of the greatest seasons in history … Jazz Chisholm Jr. returned to the lineup Friday, the first day he was eligible to be activated off the injured list, and he is 2-for-11 in three games since. He made a terrific play behind third base Saturday (video) and had a few misplays Sunday. Such is life with a guy learning a new position on the fly. Chisholm got to meet his numbersake on Old Timers’ Day. “He just told me that he’s glad I’m wearing (No. 13). It was sick to hear that from A-Rod,” Jazz told Max Goodman … Alex Verdugo received his new hypoallergenic batting gloves Saturday and hit a home run (video). That snapped an 0-for-21 skid and was his first home run since July 6th. It was his first home run against a team other than the Red Sox since May 29th in Anaheim. “They feel the same. I’m kind of surprised. Same color combo, nothing different,” Verdugo told Mark Sanchez about his new batting gloves. Would be kinda funny if Franklin sent him the same batting gloves and the allergy is all in his head … Will Warren was not competitive Saturday (3 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 6 K) and I thought the Yankees would send him down after the game and call up a fresh arm. They could have used this Thursday’s off-day to skip his next start (still could, I suppose). If they want, the Yankees could push Warren’s next start all the way back to next Tuesday, though that would mean passing up an opportunity to give everyone extra rest … Not to make excuses for Warren, but his last four starts were July 30th, Aug. 7th, Aug. 14th, and Aug. 24th. All in MLB too. Warren hasn’t pitched in a Triple-A game since July 25th. Pitching on a weird schedule is part of being an up/down guy, but get the kid back on a regular schedule, Yankees … And finally, Yankees’ first basemen this season: .210/.276/.342 (74 wRC+). They are 28th in AVG, 29th in OBP, 29th in SLG, and 29th in wRC+ among the 30 teams. It’s not like they’re playing Teixeira level defense either. The Yankees really, really need Anthony Rizzo to come back and be not awful. The bar is on the floor. It should be easy to clear, but Rizzo’s fingerprints are on that 74 wRC+ too.

Injury updates

Clarke Schmidt (lat) made his first rehab start Friday: 3.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HR (video) on 48 pitches with Double-A Somerset. “Really happy with the command,” Schmidt told Phillip Martinez. Schmidt will make another rehab start later this week. Figure he’ll get up to 60 pitches or so … Rizzo (arm) started a rehab assignment Friday and is 1-for-4 with two walks in two games with Somerset. He is DHing only. The hope is Rizzo will be cleared to play first base later this week … Cody Poteet made his second rehab start Sunday: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 3 K (video) on 44 pitches. He’s in Double-A too. Triple-A Scranton is short on starters and they're home this week. I bet Poteet (and Schmidt?) makes his next rehab start with the RailRiders … Jon Berti (calf) had some travel issues escaping Tampa and started his rehab assignment Saturday, a day later than planned. Not a big deal. He is 2-for-5 with a homer through two Double-A games … Hamilton (lat) struck out all three batters he faced in his first rehab game Saturday. Because he’s a short reliever and has a bunch of live BPs under his belt, Hamilton is probably closest to returning among the rehab guys … Lou Trivino is up to five rehab appearances, all in Double-A: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K. Maybe he’s coming to take Bickford’s roster spot? … LeMahieu is okay after getting hit in the face by a ball pregame Friday (video). Apparently it knocked one of his teeth loose, but he’s doing okay otherwise, and was back in the lineup Sunday … And finally, umpire Nick Mahrley suffered a concussion during Sunday’s game and will continue to undergo testing in the coming days, per Bryan Hoch. Mahrley was hit in the head by Stanton’s broken bat in the fifth inning and was carted off the field with his neck stabilized. Here’s the video. A concussion is not good, obviously, but that was scary. I was worried he broke his jaw or did something to his neck. I complain about umps like everyone else, but I don’t want them to get hurt. That was a nasty, fluky injury.

Up next

Three games in Washington DC, then the Yankees come right back home for the weekend. Here’s what’s coming up this week:

• Monday at Nationals: LHP Nestor Cortes vs. LHP Mitchell Parker (6.45pm ET on YES)

• Tuesday at Nationals: RHP Gerrit Cole vs. LHP Patrick Corbin (6:45pm ET on YES)

• Wednesday at Nationals: LHP Carlos Rodón vs. LHP MacKenzie Gore (6:45pm ET on Amazon)

• Thursday: off-day

The Nationals are calling up outfielder Dylan Crews, the No. 2 pick in last year’s draft, to make his MLB debut Monday. It’s been speculated the Crews call up has been timed to serve as an early free agent recruiting pitch to Soto. The crowd will be hyped up, the Nationals are showcasing their young talent, etc. I can buy it. I have no idea if it’ll make a difference, but I can buy it. (The money’s gonna matter more than Crews, methinks. Plus "we have Aaron Judge" is a pretty good counter to Crews.)

Anyway, the Yankees saw a lefty Sunday and will see three more lefties in Washington this week. These aren’t premium lefties, but still, so many lefties! With Gleyber and Stanton heating up, the Yankees are starting to do more damage against southpaws. Hopefully that continues this week. The Orioles are on the road playing the Dodgers. I would appreciate some breathing room in the AL East.

2. Prospect thoughts. OF Jasson Domínguez is heating up. It was slow going after he returned from the oblique injury, but he’s now 17-for-41 (.415) with two homers in his last 10 Triple-A games. I’m not sure what the Yankees plan to do with the extra position player spot when rosters expand in September – Ben Rice can go down for Anthony Rizzo, but what about Jon Berti? – but I would love to see El Marciano get some run in left field so the Yankees can find out whether he can be the guy in October. I guess we’ll find out in six days. Here are a few thoughts on a few prospects.

When Jones makes contact

OF Spencer Jones has hit .282/.375/.466 (136 wRC+) in his last 27 games, raising his season batting line to .249/.330/.417 (112 wRC+). The 37.1 K% is ugly – Jones has the 13th highest strikeout rate among the 920 players with at least 300 plate appearances in the minors – and not really getting better. It’s a 36.7 K% during this 27-game hot streak. Swing-and-miss has been an issue all season.

The on-contact production is what gets everyone excited about Jones. Even though he's hit only 14 home runs this season, he can hit the ball as hard as anyone. Here is what Jones has done when you remove at-bats that ended in a strikeout, which is a quick and dirty measure of contact quality:

2023 in High-A: .396/.475/.665 (1.140 OPS)
2023 South Atlantic League average: .345/.449/.552 (1.001 OPS)

2024 in Double-A: .430/.543/.722 (1.264)
2024 Eastern League average: .329/.422/.517 (.940 OPS)

(For reference, the MLB average is .325/.402/.534 when you remove at-bats that end in strikeouts. Aaron Judge is at .472/.606/1.043 lol).

When he’s not striking out, Jones does a lot of damage. Significantly more than the league average each of the last two years. He’ll take his walks, the balls he puts in play tend to be crushed, and he’s a really good defensive center fielder and a baserunner. Really good defensively and on the bases overall, not just for a player his size. Jones can do an awful lot to help his team win games.

I’ve been repeating myself since the day Jones was drafted, but it’s going to come down to cutting down on those strikeouts. That will determine whether he makes it or not. For all the “lefty Aaron Judge” comps that were thrown around when Jones was drafted, Judge had a 25.0 K% in Double-A, not a 37.1 K% like Jones. You can be a really good player with a 30 K% at the MLB level. It's difficult, but it can be done. Jones still has quite a bit of work to do to nudge it down that far.

(I’ve been told pitches down give Jones the most trouble. Like Judge, Jones has a lot of pitches below the knees called strikes. Judge is disciplined enough to lay off them because he can’t hit them. Jones swings at them and tries to protect, so pitchers then pitch even lower, and he winds up chasing far below the zone.)

Durbin in Triple-A

A bad luck broken wrist (a HBP injury) has limited IF Caleb Durbin to only 64 Triple-A games this year, and in those 64 games he’s hitting .293/.412/.456 (132 wRC+) with six homers, 23 steals in 25 attempts, and more walks (14.0%) than strikeouts (9.9%). He hit a game-winning home run in the top of the ninth inning Saturday (video). The under-the-hood numbers are interesting even though an 83.2 mph average exit velocity and 23.5% hard-hit rate in Triple-A says you’re not a Major Leaguer.

Durbin gets the absolute most out of that contact quality because he’s a big pulled fly ball guy, he rarely swings and misses, and he doesn’t get himself into trouble by chasing excessively. Here are Durbin’s Triple-A percentiles:

• 90th percentile exit velocity: 24th

• Max exit velocity: 35th

• Pulled fly ball rate: 84th

• Zone contact rate: 93rd

• Chase rate: 64th

• SEAGER: 58th

Poor contact quality overall, but Durbin pulls the ball in the air, and he generally swings at the right pitches. He has to thread a needle to be productive and he’s doing it in Triple-A. Can he do it in MLB? That’s a question for another time. Keep in mind Durbin had fewer than 200 plate appearances in Double-A last year. The Yankees moved him up to Triple-A anyway and he’s handled the promotion well.

I know the Yankees love Durbin. They love his contact skills, his energy and hard-nosed play, and that he’s increased his versatility. Durbin is a natural second baseman who’s played short, third, and some left and center fields this year. I don’t think there’s enough offense to be a regular on a contending team, but Durbin does enough to be a utility guy. My guess is the Yankees add him to the 40-man roster for Rule 5 Draft protection purposes this offseason, and we see Durbin a bunch in 2025.

Lalane’s lost season

LHP Henry Lalane, my No. 7 prospect, missed the start of the season with a shoulder issue, and it’s been a bumpy road since he returned to game action early last month. The Yankees moved him up to Low-A Tampa earlier this month just to get him innings after the Florida Complex League season ended, and it hasn’t been great. Here is Lalane’s game log real quick:

That’s a 6.75 ERA (6.12 FIP) with 24.5 K% and 17.0% in 12.1 innings. The surface stats are whatever. I wish they were better, but they’re not that important. These are the numbers that matter: 91.7 mph, 91.3 mph, and 89.3 mph. Those are Lalane’s average fastball velocities in his three Low-A starts. He topped out at 90.6 mph last start, and Statcast classified a few fastballs as changeups. That ain’t good.

Lalane sat mid-90s last year – “(He has) a mid-90s fastball that peaked at 97 mph,” Baseball America (subs. req’d) wrote before the season, if you don’t want to take my word for it – and that velocity is nowhere to be found after this year’s shoulder injury. Entering 2024, Lalane was a borderline top 100 prospect and one of the most exciting rookie ball arms in the organization. He looks nothing like that guy now.

The Bronx-born Lalane turned 20 in May. He’s so young and as far as I know he didn’t have surgery on the shoulder, so that’s good. For all intents and purposes though, this is a lost season. It’s basically a rehab year after the shoulder injury. The hope now is Lalane gets right in the offseason and shows up to Spring Training healthy and looking like the pre-2024 version of himself. What a rough year though. Yuck.

Miscellany

SS Roderick Arias had a whale of a doubleheader Saturday: 5-for-7 with a walk, three doubles, a home run, three stolen bases, and a walk-off single (video). In one day Rod-A raised his season batting line from .220/.319/.363 (99 wRC+) to .228/.327/.382 (106 wRC+). Hard to add seven points to your wRC+ in one day this late in the season, even during a doubleheader … The Yankees surprisingly moved SS George Lombard Jr. up to High-A Hudson Valley earlier this month. He hit .232/.344/.348 (105 wRC+) in 81 games with Low-A Tampa. Lombard finished his time with the Tarpons well (111 wRC+ in his last 35 games), but still, he turned 19 in June and the Yankees have him in High-A. That’s pretty aggressive. Lombard went 1-for-28 (.036) in his first eight High-A games and is, uh, 8-for-41 (.195) in 10 games since … 1B TJ Rumfield is hitting .285/.354/.452 (109 wRC+) with 12 homers in 95 Triple-A games, though the contact quality is only so-so. His Triple-A percentiles:

• 90th percentile exit velocity: 39th

• Max exit velocity: 47th

• Pulled fly balls: 27th

• Zone contact rate: 91st

• Chase rate: 66th

• SEAGER: 39th

Not really sure what to make of a first base only guy who doesn’t sting the ball (Rumfield’s a very good defender, for what it’s worth). The high contact/middling hard-hit ability/good defense at first base profile is James Loney/Casey Kotchman-ish. Rumfield is Rule 5 Draft eligible this winter and I’m curious to see how the 40-man roster decision plays out … RHP Cam Schlittler got hammered when pressed into Triple-A spot start duty in June (five runs in 1.2 innings), but he’s been much better in High-A and Double-A: 3.03 ERA (3.64 FIP) with 28.6 K% and 10.6 BB% in 101 innings. The 2022 seventh rounder is having a sneaky under-the-radar breakout season after dealing with nagging injuries last year. MLB Pipeline slotted Schlittler in at No. 25 in their top 30 Yankees prospects midseason update … If you would have asked me, I would have said RHP Eric Reyzelman was drafted in like 2019, but nope, he was a fifth rounder in 2022. Feels like he’s been in the system much longer than that. Anyway, Reyzelman missed a bunch of time with injury last year. He’s been mostly healthy this year though: 1.41 ERA (2.69 FIP) with 40.6 K% and 11.7 BB% in 32 innings at mostly Double-A. He’s a reliever and I hope to get an updated scouting report on him soon. The book on him at the time of the 2022 draft said he was a fastball only guy. He's thrown some sliders this year and I wonder about the quality, etc. … And finally, OF Brendan Jones, this year’s 12th round pick, is having some pro debut: .283/.500/.478 (187 wRC+) with two homers, 12 steals in 12 attempts, and nearly twice as many walks (30.3%) as strikeouts (18.2%) in 15 games. The Yankees have already moved the Kansas State alum up to High-A Hudson Valley. It’s 15 games. Let’s not make too much of it. Just wanted to note Jones has been really great since signing.

(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.)