The State of the Yankees Farm System

By: Carlos Peña (@YankeesFarm)

3/7/ 2024

 

The State of the Yankees Farm System

 

It’s that time of year again. Just as Spring Training begins, the major prospect publications begin to release their first Prospect Rankings of the year.

This season, the Yankees begin the year with 7 Prospects making the Top 100s of various major publications like Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, ESPN, and Baseball Prospectus. Side note: The Yankees traded two other prospects, Kevin Alcantara (OF-Cubs) and Drew Thorpe (RHP-SD), also making Top 100 lists.

There are 3 consensus Prospects listed all on 4:  Jasson Dominguez, Spencer Jones, and Chase Hampton.

Jasson has already made an impactful debut, giving the Yankees reason to be thrilled.  Spencer Jones has begun Spring Training with a bang, and Yankee fans eagerly await his arrival.  Chase Hampton continues working towards the Bronx and had an impressive Spring Training debut.  Roderick Arias made 3 of the 4 Top 100 lists.  Austin Wells makes 2 of 4 of the Top 100s. Lastly, Everson Pereira and Will Warren make 1 of the Top 100s.  The Yankees could add to this list at some point this season, along with several other prospects who received votes from Baseball America, such as George Lombard, Brando Mayea, and Henry Lalane.  Mayea should be stateside this season.  Lalane and Lombard will be playing their first full seasons of affiliate baseball this year.

For one more year, Jasson Dominguez remains the system’s crown jewel, with Baseball America anointing him as the 16th Ranked Prospect in their Top 100 List.  This is a huge jump, considering last season he began the year ranked 67.  Spencer Jones comes in at 46.  While Jasson recovers from surgery, Jones will primarily be the Yankees most-watched prospect, as some believe he could make his MLB debut at some point in the second half of 2024.

As for the Yankees farm system as a whole, Baseball America has named the Yankees as the 9th best farm system in the game.  Kiley McDaniel at ESPN puts the Yankees at No. 6.  Baseball Prospectus puts the Yankees at No. 7.  Even Keith Law has the Yankees at No. 7 and is saying that last year’s FCL team will produce at least 5 Top 100 prospects soon.  This is remarkable considering the Yankees graduated Anthony Volpe, their former No. 1 and Top 100 Prospect.  Lastly, Oswald Peraza graduated, and he was the former No.2 in the Yankees system and also a Top 100 Prospect.  The Yankees traded away several Top 30 Prospects, such as Top 5 Drew Thorpe (No. 5), Trey Sweeney (No. 7), Ricard Fitts (No. 10), Randy Vasquez (No. 14), and Jhony Brito (No. 27).  The Yankees also lost several former Top 30 pitching prospects in the Rule 5 Draft: Matt Sauer and Mitch Spence were the first and second picks of that draft.  Then Carson Coleman made the 3rd Yankees pitcher taken in the first round.

Naysayers like to point out that the Yankees farm system hasn’t produced a star since Aaron Judge or many long-term players.  This is a valid argument, but we have to look at farm systems in 4-5 years cycles.  It’s pointless for some fans to bring up Brien Taylor or  Chance Adams, but never mind that both were derailed by arm/shoulder injuries that have nothing to do with development.  While the farm hasn’t produced many players for the Yankees in the past, this time, it looks different, and the future now looks bright. There have been significant changes within leadership roles, such as Sam Briend, who’s done a great job bringing in new coaches and a new philosophy.  Over the last 4 years, Briend and his team have done a great job identifying pitchers for the Yankees, such as Drew Thorpe (Rd. 2), Chase Hampton (Rd. 6), Brock Selvidge (Rd.), Richard Fitts (Round 6) and even in the middle to late draft rounds and turning them into top prospects such as Will Warren (Rd. 8), Jack Neely (Rd. 11), Danny Watson (Rd. 15) and others.  In the last draft, there are several late picks to keep an eye on that are generating some buzz, like Brian Hendry (Rd. 10) Danny Flatt (Rd. 14), and Bryce Warrecker (Rd. 20)

The Yankees, over the last 2-3 seasons, have traded away almost 30 players who, at one point or another, were Top Prospects, and this speaks to other teams coveting Yankees prospects.  Eventually the success at the farm should start showing up at the major league level as we just saw what could be the beginning of a new “core” for the Yankees: Anthony Volpe won a gold glove at SS, Jasson Dominguez made his debut and it was in instant splash that excited the fanbase, Austin Wells also made his debut and delivered a few big hits while playing solid defense, Oswald Peraza had an excellent debut season but lost a step last season with inconsistent playing time, Everson Pereira also debuted, Yoendrys Gomez had a brief cup of coffee and was excellent with the innings he got.  It’s only a matter of time before a few more guys like Will Warren, Chase Hampton, and Spencer Jones join them to create the new core that could be paired with Juan Soto (who’s still just 25), Gerrit Cole, and the Captain Aaron Judge.

Let’s not forget Randy Vasquez, who also debuted last season, was excellent as a starter and later a bullpen option. Jhony Brito also debuted, and while he kept the Yankees in most of his starts, he was a shutdown option coming out of the bullpen in the second half. Both were key components in a trade that allowed the Yankees to get the most feared left-handed hitter of the last several years. They were also stars that the Yankees severely lacked during the Judge era.

This year, the Yankees will see Clayton Beeter and other players who could be on the cusp of making their debuts in 2024, like Will Warren, Danny Watson, Chase Hampton, Ben Rice, and others.

Baseball America’s Top 30 list consists of 11 Draft Picks and 19 IFAs.

For the foreseeable future, the Yankees will not be selecting players in the Top 12-15 spots.  Even so, they’ve made excellent decisions over the last 4-5 years.  In 2019, they selected Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells (2020), Trey Sweeney (2021), Spencer Jones (2022), and George Lombard (2023), who are all Top Prospects in the system (or in the Dodgers system in the case of Sweeney). Still, it’s with the International Free Agency that the Yankees find most of their top prospects.  And this is an area that the Yankees need to push the pedal to the metal on, as there are rumors of an international draft.

With IFAs (International Free Agents) the Yankees have a chance to do something that they won’t be able to do because they’re perennial playoff contenders, and that’s to draft within the top dozen picks to obtain blue chip prospects like Jasson Dominguez, Roderick Arias or Brando Mayea.  IFAs level the playing field for the Yankees, as shown by four of the Yankee’s Top 10 Prospects being IFAs.  This speaks highly of the job the Yankees’ team in the Dominican Republic is doing in identifying players, developing them, and getting them off the island.  The Yankees don’t just do well selecting the top IFAs, they also find gems like Randy Vasquez, Jhony Brito, Henry Lalane, Carlos Lagrange, Keiner Delgado, Enmanuel Tejeda, Willy Montero and others, and develop them into Top Prospects.

The state of the Yankees’ farm system is on solid ground, beginning at the ground floor. Baseball America called the Yankees’ FCL team, which was mostly comprised of IFAs, “one of the greatest FCL teams ever.” These IFAs are now beginning to graduate from the Rookie leagues and enter full-season baseball. Baseball America also polled MLB Executives, and the Yankees were voted the best team on the IFA front, and it’s showing.

We’ve already seen all the buzz generated by Roderick Arias and Henry Lalane, but soon you’ll hear more about Carlos Lagrange, Enmanuel Tejeda, Keiner Delgado, Brando Mayea and Francisco Vilorio.  Some of those players will be joined by guys like George Lombard Jr, Kyle Carr, Cade Smith, and several other draft picks who will be debuting this season in Tampa.

The Yankees have a young core developing that began with Volpe, Dominguez, and Wells. It’s only a matter of time before a few more guys like Will Warren, Chase Hampton, and Spencer Jones join them to create the new generation of Baby Bombers that could be paired with Juan Soto, who’s still just 25, Gerrit Cole, and Captain Aaron Judge.

Now it’s more a matter of the Yankees front office realizing this and ending the perpetual cycle of “needing” to get XYZ Free Agents and instead trusting in their own development team.  The Yankees completing the development of their own prospects will help Hal Steinbrenner offset the costs of Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, and others with the surging costs of Free Agents.

The Yankees seem to be close to ushering in a new era of Baby Bombers with the arrival of Anthony Volpe, Jasson Dominguez, and Austin Wells, who could form the initial nucleus of a new core that later adds a Will Warren/Clayton Beeter/Chase Hampton/Spencer Jones and or others to be guided by the likes of Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole.  The final piece to this puzzle could be the Yankees re-signing Juan Soto, who’s still just 25, which could return the Yankees to perennial World Series contenders and become the Evil Empire once again.