Thoughts after the Yankees announce their non-roster invitees to Spring Training 2021

Pitchers and catchers report to Tampa today and the long journey that is the 2021 MLB season is officially underway. Aaron Boone will hold his annual start-of-spring press conference at 12pm ET and it will air live on the YES Network, if you’re interested in hearing how good everyone looks and how excited Boone is for the season.

The Yankees finally announced their non-roster invitees to Spring Training this morning. Teams are allowed to bring up to 75 players to camp this year and the Yankees will have 72: 40 40-man roster players, 20 minor league signings, and 12 prospects. The 73rd spot will go to Justin Wilson whenever his contract is made official. Will Brett Gardner be No. 74? Unclear.

Let’s break down this year’s non-roster invitees now, because they’ll be old news come Friday’s regularly scheduled post.

1. Minor league signings. The vast majority of the 20 minor league signings are players we’ve heard about throughout the offseason. There are only three surprises, and by surprises I mean players we did not know the Yankees signed until now. Here are the minor league deals:

The three new names: Beltre, Dietrich, and Goody. Beltre, 25, spent 2013-20 in the Reds’ farm system and topped out at Double-A in 2019 (he was not at the alternate site last year). He is a .254/.357/.349 (109 wRC+) hitter in 153 career games at High-A and Double-A and was never really a highly regarded prospect. Only once did he appear on a Baseball America top 30 team list (No. 23 in 2017), and here’s what Eric Longenhagen wrote last May:

Beltre is 25, so assume he’s getting his doctorate. He’s physical and fast and plays really hard, but his swing just doesn’t work.

Beltre is an organizational depth outfielder more than a prospect or a sleeper pickup candidate at this point. The strength of the farm system is lower minors position players and that leaves a gap at Double-A and Triple-A. Beltre (and LaMarre and Milone) will help fill that gap.

Goody, now 29, is rejoining the organization that originally drafted him (twice). He went up and down with the Yankees from 2015-16 (4.67 ERA in 34.2 innings), was traded to Cleveland for nothing in particular, and had a 3.53 ERA in 107 innings with them from 2017-19. Goody gave up 12 runs in 11 innings with the Rangers last year. He’s an extreme slider guy (60% sliders the last few years) with meh underlying numbers. Classic Quad-A reliever.

The Yankees have had interest in Dietrich for years now and they finally got their man. The 31-year-old was Goody’s teammate with the Rangers last season and hit .197/.347/.459 (124 wRC+) with five homers in 75 plate appearances. Dietrich had an unreal start with the Reds in 2019, then just stopped hitting. Look at this:

• First 53 games: .262/.368/.713 (165 wRC+) with 17 homers
• Last 60 games: .116/.292/.225 (47 wRC+) with 2 homers

Dietrich is a lefty hitter with a Yankee Stadium friendly right field approach and extensive experience at first, second, third, and left. He can’t completely replace Tyler Wade because the Yankees need a backup shortstop, but if they go with a four-man bench (possible, though I think we’re going to see a nine-man bullpen in April), Dietrich could be a fit.

That hypothetical fourth bench spot will be a competition between Bruce and Dietrich, and also Greg Allen, Miguel Andujar, Thairo Estrada, and Mike Ford (I assume Mike Tauchman is locked into a spot at this point). If there’s a tie, give the spot to Dietrich simply because he pimps the everloving crap out of his homers, and I need more of this in my life (video link).

Here’s what I wrote about Barraclough, Brito, Bruce, Chirinos, Cortes, Gittens, Chacin, Lyons, Warren, Velazquez, Brantly, Deglan, Garcia, LaMarre, Luetge, Milone, and Wojciechowski. The Yankees also signed Matt Bowman to a minor league deal, but he’s rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and didn’t get a non-roster invitee.

2. Prospect non-roster players. Four of my top five and six of my top 10 prospects are on the 40-man roster and will be in big league camp automatically. Only one of the four non-40-man top 10 prospects got a non-roster invite and, sadly, it was not Jasson Dominguez. That’s understandable though. The kid is 18 and has yet to play a professional game.

Here are the 12 non-40-man prospects -- we’re using the term “prospect” loosely in some cases -- the Yankees are bringing to camp this year, with my top 30 rank.

• Catchers: Josh Breaux (No. 24), Max McDowell (unranked), Anthony Seigler (No. 26), Austin Wells (No. 6)
• Infielders: Armando (formerly Mandy) Alvarez (unranked), Ezequiel Duran (No. 17), Hoy Jun Park (unranked)
• Outfielders: Trey Amburgey (unranked)
• Pitchers: LHP Trevor Lane (unranked), RHP Reggie McClain (unranked), RHP Glenn Otto (unranked), RHP Addison Russ (unranked)

Wells is the first first round pick the Yankees have brought to camp as a non-roster player the year after being drafted since James Kaprielian in 2016, and only the second since at least 2006. They don’t do this often. Wells didn’t play after signing last year and Spring Training will be his first time working directly with pro instructors. Can’t wait to see him in Grapefruit League games.

Duran and Seigler are surprise non-roster invitees and I say that only because they have very little experience in full season ball. Duran has never played above the short season leagues (RIP) and Seigler has only 30 Low-A games to his credit. Those two plus Wells and Breaux figure to double dip this spring, meaning Double-A/Single-A camp after MLB/Triple-A camp.

Amburgey, Alvarez, Lane, McDowell, Otto, and Russ are warm bodies for Triple-A Scranton (or the alternate site). McClain has MLB experience and was a minor league Rule 5 Draft pick in December. The Yankees did not invite lefty Matt Krook, their other minor league Rule 5 Draft pick, to camp even though he has two years of Double-A under his belt. Huh.

I named 21 potential non-roster invitees in my preview and 20 got the invite, with Krook the only exception. I also had two TBA catcher spots (one went to Chirinos), one TBA infielder spot (Dietrich), and two TBA pitching spots (one went to Goody). For a weird Spring Training, that ain’t too shabby as far as non-roster predictions go. 

(Send your requests for Tuesday's random Yankee series and questions for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com.)