It’s been a gangbusters year for the New York Yankees. They played their way to a 41st World Series appearance and their farm system has made strides. New York is positioned to compete in this competitive window for a long time and their farm system should continue to bolster what has proven this season to be a stacked 26-man roster.
Jasson Dominguez catches the headlines and he’s likely due to man a full-time 26-man roster spot in 2025 and beyond. Behind him, a few exceptional athletes and a glut of advanced arms should see New York City before the end of the 2026 season. A unique approach to the 2024 Draft should allow the Yankees to take more aggressive shots on upside in the 2025 and 2026 drafts.
DEVELOPMENTS
The Yankees placed a massive emphasis on pitching in the 2024 Draft, taking arms with their first seven selections, potentially resulting in multiple big-league starters. It was a polish, floor-heavy approach.
The club has done well developing pitching in recent years and it’s one of the major reasons they’ve had the ammo to make trades for impact pieces like Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo over the last year or so. They drafted the next wave of their factory.
Perhaps less pronounced in prospects circles, left-handed pitcher Ben Shields, 25, put himself on the map this season boasting 137 punchouts over 106 innings across High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A this season. He’ll likely begin the 2025 season at Triple-A once again where, at 26 years old, he’ll be knocking on the door.
Shields went undrafted in 2023 out of George Mason but has moved quickly. He misses bats and generates ground balls and should carve out a role as a backend starter or an up-and-down arm who can work in multiple roles. The slider is a good two-plane sweeper and it plays well off a tailing two-seamer.
Catcher Rafael Flores is a name to watch going forward. Undrafted in 2022 out of junior college, Flores hit .279/.379/.495 with 21 homers this year — good for a 149 wRC+. He’s 23 years old with power being the carrying tool topping out north of 112 mph in terms of exit velocities.
Flores will likely see Triple-A in 2025, but he’ll need to make more contact and improve his framing if he hopes to catch in an expanded role.
QUESTIONS
New York’s top prospects, outfielder Spencer Jones and infielder George Lombard Jr. didn’t progress optimally in 2024. While Jones continues to boast elite exit velocities and should undoubtedly hit for power at the highest level, he stalled at Double-A this year as a 23-year-old recording a strikeout rate near 37 percent. Strikeouts have gone in the wrong direction each year since debuting in 2022 and in a pretty significant way.
Lombard played the entire season at 19 years old and is far from a finished product, but his contact quality struggled this year. He took his walks and didn’t strike out much across A-ball and High-A, but Lombard hit just five homers, hitting .231 with a .334 slugging percentage. The 2023 first-round pick is a physical kid with plenty of bat speed. Continued maturation should see his physical tools blossom in due time.
ADDITIONS & SUBTRACTIONS
The ’24 Draft resulted in a lot of arms, led by the aforementioned top seven selections: right-handers Ben Hess, Bryce Cunningham, Thatcher Hurd, Gage Ziehl, and Wyatt Parliament, switch-pitcher Greysen Carter, and left-hander Griffin Herring.
New York acquired RHP Thomas Balboni from the San Diego Padres for OF Brandon Lockridge as they acquired RHP Enyel De Los Santos.
Since the Yankees were buyers at the deadline, departing prospects include 2B/3B Abrahan Ramirez, C/1B Agustin Ramirez, and 2B/SS Jared Serna from the trade to acquire Jazz Chisholm Jr. as well as IF Ben Cowles in the trade with the Chicago Cubs in exchange for RHP Mark Leiter.
GRADUATIONS
Austin Wells, C
Jahmai Jones, 2B
Luis Gil, RHP
BIG-LEAGUE RADAR (yet to debut)
Spencer Jones, OF
Chase Hampton, RHP
Jorbit Vivas, IF
Rafael Flores, C/1B
Cam Schlittler, RHP
Zach Messinger, RHP
Cade Smith, RHP
Brock Selvidge, LHP
SCOUT SAYS
“The Yankees have done exactly what you’d expect them to do with their farm system, and that’s go get major leaguers with them. They’ve done enough in the draft and international free-agent periods to keep the flow above sea level as they try to win in the big leagues…
“I think we all got a little too excited on (Spencer) Jones, but (Jasson) Dominguez has every tool you’d want in a star at the plate. What we haven’t seen enough of in recent years is a Yankees position prospect flourish in pinstripes. Maybe that will be Dominguez, maybe it’s (Austin) Wells, who looked ready this year, and Anthony Volpe has a chance, but that’s always been something they’ve had until the last 10 years or thereabouts. Not sure what’s changed, but from this seat it’s simply finding the right amateur players.”
ASHMORE: A look at Yankees’ Hudson Valley prospects
ASHMORE: NYY’s arms in Double-A
- Farm System Snapshot: (Oakland) Athletics - December 31, 2024
- Farm System Snapshot: Arizona Diamondbacks - December 30, 2024
- Farm System Snapshot: Atlanta Braves - December 27, 2024
