June 4th, 2024: Soto, Judge, Poteet, Verdugo, Cortes, Domínguez, Prospects

UPDATE: My bad, folks. Anthony Volpe's triple did not tie the game Sunday. It merely drove in a run and put the tying run at third. Doesn't make Volpe's triple any less impressive, of course. I've corrected the post below (the Soto section).

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ORIGINAL POST: That first home run Juan Soto hit Sunday (video) has to be the farthest possible “it just barely cleared the wall” homer in baseball. Statcast has it at 430 feet and it juuust cleared the 24-foot wall above the 415 ft. sign. For comparison, here’s a 430-foot homer hit in roughly the same direction at Yankee Stadium. It landed almost halfway up the bleachers! Great, great West Coast trip. The flight home after that win Sunday must have been a party. Let’s get to today’s post.

1. Weekend thoughts. The Yankees swept the Giants over the weekend and, for the first time since 1998, the Yankees won three series on a single West Coast trip. They’ve won both series of a two-series West Coast trip many times since then, including just last year (2-1 vs. Mariners and 2-1 vs. Dodgers from May 29th to June 4th), but this is the first time they’ve played three series on a single West Coast trip and won all three since 1998. I’m glad the late nights are over, but gosh, what an incredible trip. What an incredible ending to the trip. The vibes are immaculate. A few thoughts on the last few games.

Soto conquers all

At this point Hal Steinbrenner should just write Juan Soto into his will. Give him like $500M over the next 12 years, plus half Hal’s share when he heads across the Rainbow Bridge. Soto’s go-ahead home run against Camilo Doval (video) on Sunday was one of those “this season feels special” moments. The guy was throwing 101 mph cutters and Soto just ate it. Look at this bat flip. Look at this crowd. Were they in San Francisco or the Bronx?

“I can go back over the years, how many times we probably lose that game, facing the closer up two runs and go 1-2-3. This team is different,” Aaron Judge told Bryan Hoch after the game. “... That’s what he does. We’ve seen it all year long. He comes up in big moments, against one of the best closers in the game, throwing it up to 102 miles an hour. I had a nice front row seat for that one. That was impressive.”

I’m not gonna lie, after Dennis Santana gave up that two-run go-ahead single in the sixth, I figured that was that. You can’t win ‘em all, 6-3 is still a great West Coast trip, etc. Then Gleyber Torres punches a single back up the middle to start the ninth inning, Jose Trevino hustles to avoid a double play – “Just give everything I have,” Trevino told Hoch – and Anthony Volpe triples in a run (video) and puts the tying run at third for Soto.

Judge and Soto are the stars of the show, but my goodness, what a player Volpe has become. He’s not hitting home runs at the same pace as last year but he’s doing everything else better. Earlier this year Volpe had a game-tying double against Emmanuel Clase (video). We can add a triple against Doval to that. Last year they blow fastballs by him and that’s that. This year Volpe is doing damage  – the double and triple pitches were both on 100 mph pitches – against two of the best closers in the game.

Volpe gets to third, Soto brings the house down with his homer, then the Yankees added an insurance run as well. Those are always appreciated it. I thought there was a chance – a small chance, but still a chance – Giancarlo Stanton would’ve had his first triple since 2018 had that ball not hopped over the fence for an automatic double (video). Stanton legging out a triple would have been the surest sign this is the Yankees’ year. If he had made it to third, you might as well have started planning the parade.

Getting back to Soto, I knew the guy was great. I’ve admired him from afar for years and I covered the 2019 World Series for CBS, so I watched him put the Astros six feet under up close. And yet, watching him everyday these last two months, he’s even better than I realized. However you define clutch, Soto is clutch. He can take the hard-throwing closer deep or poke a single the other way (like this). Whatever you need, Soto can do it. Some numbers on the Great Juan:

RISP: .400/.452/.800 (236 wRC+) with 11.3 BB% and 11.3 K%
RISP vs. LHP: 7-for-12 (.583) with 2 BB and 1 K

High leverage: .467/.529/.733 (261 wRC+) with 11.8 BB% and 5.9 K%
High leverage vs. LHP: 3-for-4 with 1 BB and 0 K

Three years ago I was saying to myself “the rest of the league is really going to let the Dodgers just have Freddie Freeman, aren’t they?” The Yankees were on the right side of that this offseason with Soto. There was shockingly little competition for him. I get the projected $30M+ arbitration salary is exorbitant, but come on. He’s still a bargain at that price. The rest of baseball screwed up big time letting the Yankees have this guy. What a player, man. What a season so far.

“We’re having a great time,” Soto told Hoch after Sunday’s win. “We have great moments. We’re just having fun. That’s all I can tell you.”

Wrapping up Judgment May

I can’t take credit for “Judgment May.” Bob Lorenz dropped that in the YES studio one day last week. It is perfect though. After an April that ranked among the worst months of his career, Judge had the best month of his career in May, and he capped it off with two homers against the Giants on Friday (video). Judge is 12-for-23 (.522) with five homers in six games against the Giants since they tried to sign him. Talk about rubbing it in.

“You think you’d stop being surprised, but it is impressive what he did,” Boone told Greg Joyce over the weekend. “Twenty-six extra-base hits this month? I mean, it’s hard to wrap your brain around that, what he’s doing. He just kind of does his thing. He’s so consistent with who he is as a person, as a player, and the way he goes about it. It’s just fun to get to watch it.”

Judge was named AL Player of the Month for May, because duh. It’s his seventh career Player of the Month and his first since last May. Those seven Players of the Month are easily the most since 2017. Ronald Acuña and Shohei Ohtani are tied for second with four each. Judge is close to doubling them up. Here’s where Judge ranks among the 107 hitters with at least 100 plate appearances in May:

• AVG: .371 (second to Luis Arraez’s .389)

• OBP: .488 (Vlad Guerrero Jr. is second at .447)

• SLG: .928 (José Ramírez is second at .686)

• wRC+: 281 (Ramírez is second at 195)

• 2B: 12 (several tied for second with 10)

• HR: 14 (several tied for second with 11)

• XBH: 26 (Ramírez is second with 19)

• TB: 89 (Ramírez is second with 72)

Turns out it hasn’t been that long since someone had 26 extra-base hits in a month: Austin Riley had 26 in July 2022. Judge’s 26 are the third most in a single month in Yankees history though, behind Joe DiMaggio’s 31 in July 1937 and Babe Ruth’s 29 in July 1930. Before Judge, the most extra-base hits in a month by a Yankee who isn’t an inner circle Hall of Famer was 24 by Bob Meusel in July 1920.

Judge slugged – slugged – .928 in May. Only eight other players had a .928 OPS in May. Judge is hitting .288/.417/.658 (198 wRC+) on the season overall and that 198 wRC+ leads all qualified hitters. No. 2 on the list? Soto. He’s hitting .322/.417/.614 (191 wRC+). Shohei Ohtani is a distant third with a 180 wRC+. No matter the opponent, the Yankees have the two best players on the field just about every single night.

This was the plan, of course. Build a dominant 1-2 punch that is a threat to score every time the lineup turns over. Judge leads baseball with 21 home runs and 12 of those have come with men on base. Only 14 of his 37 homers came with men on base last year. That’s the Soto effect. No, that’s the Soto and Volpe figuring things out effect. Volpe’s not Soto or Judge, but he’s been damn good this year.

The Yankees do have some things to figure out at the bottom of the lineup, but nothing worth panicking about and nothing they can fix right now anyway. Let’s see where DJ LeMahieu, Anthony Rizzo, Jasson Domínguez, and others are in a few weeks. The top of the lineup though? Capital-E Elite. Judge and Soto are the two best hitters in the game and Judge just had the best month of his career, incredibly.

“It’s nightmarish, trying to get through that lineup,” Giants catcher Curt Casali told Hoch after Sunday’s game.

Poteet’s return

Clarke Schmidt is down for a while and Gerrit Cole is still a few weeks away, and Cody Poteet is getting the first crack at filling the rotation spot. He pitched well Saturday: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K (video). It was his first start in 13 days because he’d been dealing with a blister in Triple-A, and Poteet started to run out of gas once his pitch count got up to 70 or so (he threw 78 pitches on the night). All in all, a good start.

“Overall, I thought he pitched with a lot of confidence. I thought he was on the attack,” Boone told Joyce. “I thought he did a good job with his four-seam and his two-seam. Gave us what we needed.”

Poteet scraped 95 mph a few times Saturday but he’s not a hard-thrower by any means. He uses four pitches – Saturday he threw 35 four-seamers, 23 sweepers, 22 sinkers, and 18 changeups (and two curveballs) – to keep hitters off balance, and wow, his location was excellent against the Giants. Keep the ball out of the middle of the plate and you’re gonna do well in this league:

I think we were all a little nervous about the rotation depth coming into the season. The Yankees gave up a lot of pitching to get Soto and some of the guys locked into rotation spots had injuries and/or down seasons a year ago. Two months into the season though, Luis Gil’s been maybe the best pitcher in the league, and Poteet looks like a more than competent No. 6 depth guy. I swear, Matt Blake and the pitching folks are just showing off at this point. Great start by Poteet on Saturday.

“Sad to see (Schmidt) go down. Such an incredible pitcher and was rolling just like the rest of the staff right now,” Poteet told Joyce after his start. “But I’m not looking too far ahead. Just taking it a day at a time and trying to get better each day, and enjoy being around so many great players.”

(Poteet’s next start will come against the Dodgers this weekend. With all due respect to the Guardians and Giants, that will be his first real test. I’d sign up for another 5 IP, 3 R (2 ER) outing right now.)

Miscellany

Shoutout to Michael Tonkin. He threw scoreless seventh and eighth innings Sunday – Tonkin stranded runners at second and third in the seventh – and gave the offense a chance to come back in the ninth. He got the win and he deserved it. It’s almost entirely in low leverage situations, but getting a 1.20 ERA in 15 innings from a waiver claim/last guy in the bullpen type is nice work. As for Dennis Santana, he’s struck out only four of the last 34 batters he’s faced (11.8%). I know Santana’s out of options and the Yankees want to preserve depth, but it’s time to get Ron Marinaccio back up here, no? … Judge and Volpe have run their on-base streaks up to 29 games. The last time two Yankees had 29-game on-base streaks simultaneously was Derek Jeter (35 games) and Alex Rodriguez (31 games) spanning 2006-07. Limit it to a single season, and it’s Clete Boyer (36 games) and Tom Tresh (32 games) in 1966, though their streaks didn’t overlap perfectly. The last nine games of Boyer’s streak were the first nine games of Tresh’s streak. As best I can tell, you have to go back to Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth for the last time the Yankees had two players with 29-game on-base streaks that fully overlapped in a single season … I know the bar is on the floor, but Alex Verdugo is easily the best defensive left fielder the Yankees have had since peak Brett Gardner. He’s been terrific. Verdugo leads all left fielders with +8 DRS and he’s second with +3 OAA, and the numbers match the eye test. It feels like he’s been better than his .261/.324/.441 (118 wRC+) line too, probably because he’s gotten an avalanche of big hits (238 wRC+ in high leverage situations!) … Nestor Cortes’ 4.1 IP, 3 R outing Sunday snapped the rotation’s 27-game streak of going at least five innings. It was the first time the starter failed to complete five innings since Carlos Rodón went four innings in Baltimore on May 2nd. Nestor’s home/road splits remain sizeable:

• Home: 1.12 ERA (2.18 FIP) with 0.45 HR/9 and 6.7 IP/start

• Road: 6.17 ERA (5.11 FIP) with 2.06 HR/9 and 5.0 IP/start

The competition has definitely contributed to that. In order, Nestor’s six home starts have come against the Marlins, Rays, Athletics, Tigers, White Sox, and Mariners. The Tigers are the only one of those teams not in the bottom six in runs scored per game, and they rank 15th. On the road, Cortes has faced the Astros, Diamondbacks, Guardians, Orioles, Rays (second time they saw him), Angels, and Giants. The real Nestor is likely somewhere between his home and road numbers. Cortes has a 3.46 ERA (3.54 FIP) this year. When that guy is clearly your worst starter, you’re living the good life … And finally, the Yankees swept the monthly awards for May. Judge is the AL Player of the Month and Gil is the AL Pitcher and Rookie of the Month. He’s the fifth player to win Pitcher of the Month and Rookie of the Month in the same month. The other four who did it is a nice collection of Some Guys:

• Matt Shoemaker, Angels (August 2014)

• Chris Archer, Rays (July 2013)

• Jeremy Hellickson, Rays (May 2011)

• Dontrelle Willis, Marlins (June 2003)

Would you believe this is only the third time the Yankees have had the Player and Pitcher of the Month in the same month? Bernie Williams and Hideki Irabu did it in May 1998, and Don Mattingly and Dave Righetti did it in August 1985. I would’ve guessed Judge and Cole, or CC Sabathia and Robbie Canó, or Jeter and Andy Pettitte, or some other combination did it in the last 25 years. Congrats to Gil. Being named Pitcher and Rookie of the Month must’ve made for a nice 26th birthday Monday.

Injury updates

Cole’s rehab assignment begins Tuesday night with Double-A Somerset. The Yankees haven’t said how many rehab starts Cole will make, but three would put him on track to return during the Orioles series from June 18-20, which would be great timing. Maybe it’s sooner, maybe it’s later. We’ll see. Point is, Cole will take a big step in his rehab later today … Nick Burdi received a PRP injection for his hip issue recently and those usually don’t come with a quick turnaround. He’s gonna be out a while … Scott Effross is still throwing bullpens and is getting closer to a rehab assignment, or so the Yankees say. I feel like we’ve been hearing he’s getting close to a rehab assignment for six months now … And finally, Lou Trivino is still shut down following his setback. This is Week 5 of what the Yankees said would be a 3-4 shutdown period. Not sure either Effross or Trivino will have much of an impact this season.

Up next

Home at last. It feels like it’s been a month since the Yankees last played in Yankee Stadium. The West Coast trip is over and the Yankees welcome the Twins to the Bronx this week. No more late night games and a Twins series? We’ve earned this. Here are this week’s pitching matchups:

• Tuesday vs. Twins: RHP Luis Gil vs. RHP Bailey Ober (7pm ET on YES, TBS)

• Wednesday vs. Twins: LHP Carlos Rodón vs. Chris Paddack (7pm ET on Amazon)

• Thursday vs. Twins: RHP Marcus Stroman vs. RHP Pablo López (7pm ET on YES, MLBN)

When the Yankees swept the Twins last month, Minnesota had neither Byron Buxton nor Royce Lewis, but we’ll see them this week. Buxton returned from his knee issue a few weeks ago and that means we can’t look forward to more Willi Castro misplays in center. Lewis hurt his quad on Opening Day and is expected to be activated off the injured list Tuesday. He’s a difference-making bat when healthy.

With all due respect to the Twins, this is the last series before a potentially brutal five-series, 16-game stretch: Dodgers, Royals (+74 run differential!), Red Sox (meh), Orioles, Braves. In my head, I know 9-7 would be a good outcome in those 16 games, but man would I love something like 10-6 or 11-5. Beat up on the Twins these next few days, then prepare for hell.

2. Prospect thoughts. Cleveland’s outfielders are collectively hitting .243/.327/.366 (106 wRC+) with 13 home runs and that still wasn’t enough to save Estevan Florial’s job. The Guardians DFAed Florial the other day when Steven Kwan came off the injured list. Florial hit .173/.264/.367 (83 wRC+) with three homers (two against the Yankees!) and a 36.9% strikeout rate in 111 plate appearances. His 20.8% swinging strike rate is the highest among the 310 hitters with at least 100 plate appearances. Not sure what’s next for him (he can elect free agency if he clears waivers), but I hope Florial latches on somewhere and is able to carve out a role. Here are a few thoughts on a few prospects.

Domínguez's rehab extended, apparently

So I guess position players coming back from Tommy John surgery can get a second rehab window like pitchers? OF Jasson Domínguez’s 20-day rehab window expired Sunday, and rather than activate him, the Yankees announced his rehab is moving up to Triple-A. Alrighty. That’s honestly the way it should be. He’s still in rehab mode (he still hasn’t played a full nine innings in the field) and rehabbing players belong on the injured list, not losing big league pay and service time on an optional assignment.

Anyway, El Marciano is hitting .333/.404/.588 (178 wRC+) with four home runs, 24.6% strikeouts, and 10.5% walks in 14 rehab games and 57 plate appearances. “Looks about ready,” a scout told Erik Boland. Domínguez returned to the outfield last Wednesday and he’s yet to play a full nine innings or back-to-back days in the field. Here is his schedule since returning to the field:

• Wednesday: Played three innings in CF

• Thursday: Did not play

• Friday: Started at DH, moved to CF for the final three innings (?)

• Saturday: Played full game at DH

• Sunday: Played six innings in CF

Starting at DH and then playing the field in the late innings is a weird one. Can’t remember ever seeing that for a rehabbing player. Domínguez was in Friday’s original starting lineup in center field, then they put him at DH and had him come off the bench. Whatever. As long as he’s healthy, who cares.

“I feel really good. The progression has been great. We’re going day by day and every day I feel better,” Domínguez told Gary Phillips over the weekend. ”I don’t know what’s the plan (after rehab ends). I know nothing about that yet. I can’t control that. Just playing in my progression, and when the time comes, we will see what happens.”

I don’t want to read too much into 14 rehab games, especially against Low-A and Double-A pitching, but I’m glad Domínguez is mashing right away. Since his elbow gave out, it’s been in the back of my mind that Didi Gregorius stunk in his first year back from Tommy John surgery (.238/.276/.441 and 84 wRC+), and Bryce Harper hit three homers in his first 58 games after surgery. And that’s Bryce Harper.

Assuming this is a second 20-day rehab window, Domínguez must be activated no later than Sunday, June 23rd. Do the Yankees call him up and put him in the lineup once rehab ends? I know Trent Grisham has a great glove, but a .051/.213/.128 (15 wRC+) line is not acceptable, even in such a limited role (he’d have a larger role if he hit even a little bit). The Yankees can take at-bats away from Alex Verdugo against lefties and from Giancarlo Stanton in general, and get Domínguez in the lineup that way. You make room for players this talented.

There’s a (very) good chance I'm overreacting to 14 rehab games, and these things have a way of taking care of themselves anyway, but the Yankees are a World Series contender and their best possible lineup likely includes Domínguez. Once he’s fully operational in the outfield, we can have the “should they call Domínguez?” conversation in earnest. For now, his rehab continues, and it appears to be going very well.

“He’s in a good spot,” Aaron Boone told Greg Joyce last week. “He’s had a really good rehab, in that it’s gone smooth, he hasn’t been rushed, he’s been built up properly. So he’s in a pretty good place.”

Warren’s terrible month

RHP Will Warren had his best start in a while Saturday night, but it still wasn’t very good: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 5 K. Considering he surrendered at least seven runs in each of his last four starts, I guess we should consider Saturday progress. Still not good though, and worrisome seeing how a) Warren is the Yankees’ best healthy pitching prospect, and b) probably next in line for a call up when the Yankees need a starter.

Warren’s entire thing is sinkers and sweepers with a ton of movement that look like strikes until zipping out of the zone. His sweeper movement is down about 12% during this rough patch though, and his sinker is dropping about 20% less. The sinker is misbehaving to the point that Warren threw nearly as many four-seamers as sinkers Saturday, which is unheard of for him. He’s searching for it, for sure.

“Back to the drawing board. Just gotta keep pushing,” Warren told Max Goodman (subs. req’d) about his rough patch. “... It sucks. Just gotta get better. Gotta just keep building off the positives and move on to the next one.”

Given Warren’s recent struggles, the Yankees opted for Cody Poteet to replace Clarke Schmidt, but they did adjust Warren’s schedule to line him up for that start as well. Warren was listed as Triple-A Scranton’s starter for Friday, then he was scratched and pushed back to Saturday. The Yankees have Poteet and Warren on the same schedule now, which isn’t a coincidence. Warren’s the backup plan.

Warren lives and dies with cartoonish movement and, for whatever reason, he hasn’t had his usual break these last few weeks (bad mechanics? injury?), and hitters are making him pay. With Clayton Beeter hurt, Warren is the only real alternative to Poteet, but he’s an emergency option only in his current state. Hopefully this is just a mechanical blip and Warren gets right soon. He’s needed rotation depth.

Serna’s big May

Warren had a miserable May and 2B Jared Serna had a great May, slugging eight home runs after going deep 19 times all last season. He’s a fascinating prospect. Serna is a bit taller than his listed 5-foot-7 but not that much taller, though there’s legit pop in his bat and he makes a lot of contact. He does that despite having a leg kick that is more like a leg coil. Serna twists and almost shows his number to the pitcher.

You see home runs like this and it’s obvious Serna has power to the opposite field, yet he’s always been a pull hitter. He has a 48.6% pull rate this year, essentially identical to last year’s 48.7% pull rate. The difference between 2023 and 2024 is the ground balls. Serna had a 47.7% ground ball rate last year. This year it’s down to 39.4%. That right there explains the power surge the last few weeks.

Serna has cut down on his ground balls without sacrificing contact. Those 19 homers last season came with a 16.0 K% and 10.9% swinging strike rate. This year those numbers are 18.4% and 10.0%, respectively. Isaac Paredes best represents the sub-6-foot contact guy with pull power archetype. Serna is in that bucket too, though his minor league contract rates aren’t quite Paredesian.

No team took a chance on Serna in this past offseason’s Rule 5 Draft, which isn’t surprising because he’s not a top tier prospect and he’s yet to play above Single-A. The Yankees are probably going to bump him up to Double-A Somerset in a few weeks though, and if Serna hits there, teams will take notice. The Yankees could be forced into a 40-man roster decision. Or, maybe more likely, Serna becomes trade bait.

The Yankees will have to replace Gleyber Torres next season and it’s entirely possible they’ll go cheap and give Oswald Peraza and Jorbit Vivas the first crack at the job since they’ll both be out of options. It’s hard to see how Serna helps the MLB team in a meaningful way next season and how many 40-man spots does a World Series contender want to tie up on good but not great prospects who aren’t big league ready?

We’ll see where things sit with Serna in a few weeks. For now, he had a very good May and is kinda sorta maybe starting to tap into his power a little bit more by getting the ball off the ground. Prospects like Serna should never be off-limits in trade talks and second base is a position of depth throughout the organization. If there’s no role for Serna with the Yankees long-term, he’s hitting his way into some nice trade value.

Torrens traded to Mets, Rice not promoted (yet)

A trade! A minor one: C Luis Torrens was traded to the Mets for $100,000 late last week. Joel Sherman says Torrens had a June 15th opt out, so the Yankees got out in front of it and traded him for cash. The Mets are probably going to DFA him when Francisco Alvarez returns from his thumb injury in a week or so, but that’s none of my concern. The Yankees traded a player they were likely to lose for nothing in two weeks.

Torrens, 28, slashed .279/.339/.469 (105 wRC+) with five homers in 124 plate appearances with Triple-A Scranton. C Josh Breaux and C Carlos Narváez are also with the RailRiders, so the Yankees were using Torrens at second and third bases occasionally just to get everyone in the lineup. Jose Trevino and Austin Wells aren’t going anywhere. Safe to assume Torrens was going to opt out on June 15th.

I thought (hoped) the Torrens trade meant 1B/C Ben Rice would move up to Triple-A, but nope. At least not yet. Rice is 13-for-39 (.333) with four homers and as many walks as strikeouts (eight each) in his 11 games. His batting line with Double-A Somerset is up to .256/.377/.506 (149 wRC+). Between this year and last year, Rice is a career .293/.389/.581 (166 wRC+) hitter in 435 Double-A plate appearances.

For what it’s worth, Rice has started eight of his last 13 games at first base, and he already has as many starts at first base this season as last season (17). It does seem like the Yankees are moving Rice away from catcher. C Agustin Ramirez is also mashing at Double-A this year (.271/.373/.553 and 156 wRC+), but if the Yankees wanted to give Rice playing time at catcher, they’d do it. There’s always a way. Instead, he’s more of a first baseman now.

“I feel good over there. It’s a learning process, like any other position would be,” Rice recently told Phillips about playing first. “Infield is not something that’s totally foreign to me. I used to play second base a lot when I was younger. So it’s really just continuing to get reps over there. It’s just like anything. You just gotta keep going out there and keep seeing balls come off the bat, getting grounders, knowing where to be on the field in different situations. But I definitely like the improvements I’ve made over there so far.”

Rice staying in Double-A after the Torrens trade could be a travel thing. The RailRiders were in Toledo this past weekend and Somerset was home, so instead of sending him to Toledo for two games, the Yankees might just be waiting until Scranton comes home this week to promote Rice. I dunno. I’m not surprised he’s becoming a most of the time first baseman. I am surprised it’s June and he’s still in Double-A though.

DSL season begins

The Dominican Summer League season began Monday and the Yankees are again fielding two teams: DSL Bombers and DSL Yankees. There are 50 teams in the DSL. If your favorite team is not fielding two DSL clubs, you should be asking why not. Anyway, I don’t want to get too deep into the weeds with DSL stuff, so here are just a few names to know this summer:

RHP Jerson Alejandro: One of my Not Top 30 Prospects. Alejandro is on the cusp of becoming a Big Deal – I heard the Dodgers asked for him during Caleb Ferguson trade talks, and the Yankees talked them down to Christian Zazueta – thanks to his big frame (6-foot-6 and 225 lbs.), sinker that touches 98 mph, and hard changeup. Still only 18, Alejandro needs to throw more strikes and improve his breaking ball. He struck out four in 1.2 scoreless innings during the Opening Day start Monday before the game was suspended due to rain.

OF Gabriel Lara: I considered Lara for my Not Top 30 Prospects this spring. He slashed .267/.401/.411 (123 wRC+) with nearly as many walks (15.4%) as strikeouts (16.5%) in the DSL last season. Lara, a $30,000 signing last year, is probably the fastest player in the organization. The 18-year-old has a classic slash-and-dash, run everything down in center field profile. He went 0-for-3 on Opening Day.

3B Richard Matic: The Yankees gave Matic an $850,000 bonus when the 2024 international signing period opened in January. At the time, I linked to a scouting report that said Matic is a “high-contact hitter with good bat speed, allowing him to put the ball in play at a high clip and drive the ball for extra-base damage when he does connect.” They don’t give $850,000 to nobodies. Matic went 2-for-3 on Opening Day. (I hope his nickname is Auto.)

SS Dexters Peralta: Despite signing for $500,000 just this January, I had Peralta in my Not Top 30 Prospects because everyone I spoke to while piecing together the Top 30 Prospects list raved about the kid. They said he was the steal of international free agency and that he's a multi-million dollar talent, so on and so forth. We’ll see. 16-year-old ballplayers will break your heart, but Dexters has a lot of fans within the game. He went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in his pro debut Monday.

OF Francisco Vilorio: Vilorio, 17, was the Yankees’ top international signing in January. They gave him $1.75M, nearly 40% of their original $4.6522M bonus pool. Vilorio went 0-for-1 in his pro debut Monday before it started raining. Here’s part of what Ben Badler (subs. req’d) wrote in his international review:

He has the strength, bat speed and leverage that produces plus raw power now and what could end up becoming 70 power … Scouts were mixed on Vilorio’s pure hitting ability and thought his power could some with some strikeouts, while others saw him blending both contact and impact. Vilorio’s explosiveness shows up at the plate and in center field. He moves extremely well for his size with plus speed underway and has an outstanding, well above-average arm.

You may notice a lot of players, including Alejandro and Lara, are repeating the DSL. That is not uncommon, even with top prospects. We’re talking about 16, 17, 18-year-old kids here. They need time to mature and improve their game before they come to the United States and play at a higher level, let alone move to a new country and a new culture.

There’s also the 165-player limit. Teams are limited to 165 players for their five domestic affiliates (Triple-A, Double-A, High-A, Low-A, Florida/Arizona Complex League). DSL players do not count toward the limit, so teams want to make sure they’re ready to move up before committing a roster spot. As recently as 2020, you could have as many minor leaguers under contract as you wanted. There was no limit. Now roster spots are a finite resource and have to be managed carefully.

3. 2024 draft prospect: Kentucky OF Ryan Waldschmidt. The 2024 MLB Draft will take place during the All-Star break and the Yankees hold the No. 26 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.

Waldschmidt, 21, has spent the last few years dealing with fluky injuries. He suffered a major arm injury in a home plate collision as a high school freshman and was limited to DH duty from 2018-19. The pandemic wiped out most of his 2020 season, then, last summer, Waldschmidt tore his left ACL when he stepped in a hole in the outfield in the Cape Cod League. He had to DH the first few weeks this spring.

Now healthy and playing the field, Waldschmidt has had an impressive draft year, hitting .359/.482/.657 with 14 home runs and 24 stolen bases in 54 games for the Wildcats. He’s struck out (15.5%) more than he’s walked (13.5%), which is not the best sign for a potential first round college bat, but the strikeout rate is not excessive. Here’s where the latest draft rankings have him:

• Baseball America (subs. req’d): No. 31

• ESPN (subs. req’d): No. 41

• Keith Law (subs. req’d): No. 21

• MLB Pipeline: No. 39

Waldschmidt has been on a great run the last few weeks – he went 7-for-12 with two doubles and two homers in three games against Vanderbilt recently – and is climbing draft boards, so much so that Kiley McDaniel (subs. req’d) says he’s in play for the Red Sox with the No. 12 pick. He adds the Yankees are in on Waldschmidt too. Here’s video and here’s MLB Pipeline’s free scouting report:

Few players in this Draft can match Waldschmidt's ability to make contact, avoid chasing pitches and produce high exit velocities. He has a very patient approach and a quick right-handed stroke that looks less uphill than it did in his first season with the Wildcats. He uses the entire field but also has an affinity for driving balls in the air to his pull side.

As Waldschmidt has gotten healthier, his run times have improved from fringy earlier in the season to solid with flashes of plus. The only real knock on him is that he's a subpar left fielder who looks tentative at times, though some evaluators wonder if his quickness should merit a look in center field at the next level. He played primarily third base at Charleston (before transferring to Kentucky) but his below-average arm doesn't fit at the hot corner.

In his latest mock draft, Carlos Collazo (subs. req’d) notes Waldschmidt is one of only six Division I hitters with a contact rate over 80%, a chase rate under 20%, and a 90th percentile exit velocity over 108 mph. He doesn’t expand the zone, he gets the bat on the ball when he swings, and his contact is loud. Waldschmidt is doing that in the SEC too. Teams that lean on analytical models (like the Yankees) will love him.

One of my people in the know described Waldschmidt’s ball-tracking data (exit velocity, etc.) as “bananas,” and there’s some belief he has even more power that can be unlocked with a few adjustments to his setup at the plate. Waldschmidt hits from a very wide crouch and doesn’t take a stride …

… so he doesn’t really transfer his weight during his swing. Is it possible to stand him up a little bit and give him a small leg kick or toe tap, and unlock even more juice? Is there a way to do that without sacrificing any of Waldschmidt’s contact skills and plate discipline? Beats me. Paul Goldschmidt doesn’t have as deep a crouch as Waldschmidt, but he made the no stride thing work very well for a long time.

Waldschmidt gives me Trey Sweeney vibes as a top performer with great data and an unusual setup at the plate at a school not known for producing hitters (Evan White is Kentucky’s only position player taken in the first round in the last 25 years) who bashes his way into the first round in the weeks leading up the draft. The Yankees took Sweeney and his exaggerated bat waggle out of Eastern Illinois in the 2021 first round.

The Yankees typically go for up-the-middle athletes in the first round and MLB Pipeline’s scouting report above says there are some who think Waldschmidt warrants a look in center field. Maybe the Yankees are one of those teams? They stuck with Austin Wells at catcher even though no one thought he could catch. Maybe they’re willing to do the same with Waldschmidt in center. Either way, he seems up their alley.

4. Rapid fire thoughts. All-Star Game voting opens Wednesday. Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are going to the All-Star Game. The only question is whether they’ll get voted in as starters or go as reserves. The All-Star Game is in Texas, so count on Adolis García and Kyle Tucker getting a ton of votes, possibly enough to squeeze Judge and/or Soto onto the bench. Shortstop is the bigger question. If Rangers fans vote Corey Seager in as the starter, then Gunnar Henderson and Bobby Witt Jr. will be the reserves, and Anthony Volpe stays home. If Henderson or Witt wins the voting, then the other will be on the bench, and Volpe will be in the mix for the third reserve spot. Seager has been on the warpath the last few weeks (11 home runs in his last 22 games entering Monday) and I gotta think Rangers fans will stuff the ballot box for the reigning World Series MVP. Such are the perks of fan voting when you win the World Series and then host the All-Star Game the next year.

(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.)