Late 2024 Yankees Top 30 Prospects: 20-16
The Minor League season is coming to a close (or in the case of rookie-level through Double-A, the regular season has already ended), so it’s time for us to renew our Top 30 prospects. Some players that you like may have been left out because this is a purely subjective ranking. Everyone will have their opinions on players, and that’s fine. I have also left off some players like Ben Rice, Oswald Peraza, etc., because they have “graduated”. For example, Rice and Peraza have played in more than 30 games; Will Warren and Yoendrys Gómez have been left off because they have pitched more than 10 innings. They may still be considered “rookies”, of which the official definition is as follows: “130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues. 45 total days on an active Major League roster during the Championship Season (excluding time on the Injured List).”
The acronym OFP you’ll see below is an “overall future projection” as to how the prospect is projected to turn out. It’s difficult to say how one player will pan out; there are superstar looking prospects that fizzle out before they get to the Majors, and there are very quiet prospects that aren’t really on anyone’s radar that surprise you when they make the Major Leagues.
Today, we continue with our 16th through 20th ranked prospects in the Yankees farm system.
20: RHP Carlos Lagrange – ETA: 2027; OFP: 45; Risk: Extreme
The Yankees have drafted many tall American-born-and-raised pitchers in recent years, and Lagrange adds a Dominican flair to that list. The 6-foot-7 righty uses his size to reach triple digits on his fastball.
Lagrange mostly uses that double-plus fastball, a four-seamer, which sits in the upper-90s, and a cutter that sits in the upper-80s, and an infrequently used mid-80s slider and upper-80s change-up. The incredible velo on the fastball is fun to see, but it doesn’t matter if he can’t throw it where he wants it to go. Command will be a significant thing for Lagrange to work on in the coming months and years, because aside from any potential injuries that may arise from throwing at that kind of speed, the below-average command may hinder his progress.
That said, despite Lagrange’s rather elevated ERA in his limited time in Low-A this season (6.91 in 14-1/3 IP), he maintained an exceptional K/9 of 11.93. His trouble is that with the below-average command comes a lot of walks, at a rate of 8.16 BB/9. Lagrange needs to lower that to under 3 to be considered “average”. If he can sort out the command and get the walks down to under 3, or even better under 2.5, he has the potential to be a top 10 prospect.
19: C/1B Engelth Ureña – ETA: 2027; OFP: 45; Risk: Extreme
To be fair, Ureña would be much higher on a top 30 list with other organizations, but the Yankees are so deep with talent that he sits in the top 20. My caution with Ureña is that he missed all of 2023 to injury, along with much of 2022. He has played all of 51 games of pro baseball, so we don’t know how “durable” he can be, especially in the role of catcher. That shouldn’t diminish his talents, but should be something to be aware of, and drops him a little lower in this list.
Ureña batted a slash of .301/.420/.564/.984 in 2024 with the rookie-level FCL team and drove in 31 RBI in 133 at bats. Ureña had one of the highest wRC+ on the team at 161 and spent more time at 1B (127-1/3 innings) than behind the plate (84 innings). 2024 was Ureña’s first year playing 1B, and he was perfect, with 108 total chances and no errors recorded. The same can’t be said while as catcher, where he allowed 16 stolen bases in 18 chances, throwing out 2 runners.
I wouldn’t totally rule out Ureña moving up in the list next season, but he needs to be able to prove he won’t be injury prone. His stats are solid, but there’s lots of depth in the catcher role in the Yankees’ system (there are three catchers on this list).
18: RHP Zach Messinger – ETA: 2025; OFP: 45; Risk: Medium
Messinger has proven to be yet another gem of a mid/late draft selection, as the 13th round pick in the 2021 MLB Draft has had an ERA of 3.06 through the 2024 regular season. While Messinger didn’t have the solid K/9 and BB/9 stats of last year in High-A (10.48 and 4.92, respectively), it should make sense to exchange a bit of compromise there when he gave up half of the home runs year-over-year compared with last year (1.21 HR/9 vs. 0.54). Also consider that Double-A is considered a significant jump over both Single-A levels, given the advanced competition.
Messinger shows a mix of a mid-90s four-seam fastball, a low-80s change-up, an upper/mid-80s slider and a curveball (I didn’t see it thrown, so I don’t have velo). The fastball and change are his go-to pitches; the fastball has some late rise which very much confuses batters, while the change has some curveball-type vertical movement. Control is above-average if not excellent, then tailing off to average as the game goes on, allowing 3.36 BB/9, and 5.60 K./9. In his last 10 starts (totaling 59 IP), he only allowed 12 ER for an ERA of 1.83.
Depending on how aggressive the Yankees are in the upcoming 2024/25 off-season into Spring Training with their prospects, there’s a good possibility that Messinger is one of the September or even mid-season call-ups. Messinger would fit as a back-end starter or potentially in a long reliever role, and has a chance to be a #1 or #2 starter if he can really fine-tune that command. In the specific game I saw versus Hartford (8/15), he threw a decent game, but had a rough 2nd inning where he allowed 3 runs, including 1 HR. His month of May should be looked at in the off-season and Spring Training as one to mirror going forward as he had the best K/9 (11.71), a decent BB/9 (2.60) and solid ERA (1.95) in that span. Those are some of the best stats within a month he held all season.
17: C Edgleen Perez – ETA: 2028; OFP: 45; Risk: Extreme
Perez was one of the most impressive players on the 2024 FCL team in my opinion given the total package offered and is yet another incredible IFA catcher signing by the Yankees, including that of Agustin Ramirez, who was part of the trade with Miami for Chisholm.
Perez has a loud bat (.283 BA, .346 BABIP, 138 wRC+) with decent at-the-plate numbers (20.8% BB%, 16.2% K%), but also has good defensive skills. While he may not have the most elite pop time, there are still a few years until he’s potentially MLB ready. Actually, Perez has only nabbed 1/4 (24.85%) of base stealers in the two years he has played pro ball, so the Yankees have a lot of work to do.
The concern, if any, with Perez is that he was signed so young; he just turned 18 in May. I look at that in a positive light: the Yankees can make a more significant impression in how to become an excellent catcher. There’s no reason Perez doesn’t start in Low-A Tampa next year, and depending on how that goes, he may be on your Top 10 radar sooner than later.
16: OF Francisco Vilorio – ETA: 2030; OFP: 45; Risk: Extreme
There’s not a lot of video to work with here given Vilorio isn’t stateside yet, so bear with me. Vilorio was the top IFA the Yankees signed in 2024, so given it’s his first year in pro ball, he’s just learning how to ride a bike with training wheels. I don’t look too much into DSL stats, so the K% of nearly 33% and batting average under .200 doesn’t concern me. Vilorio only played in 42 games with the DSL Bombers (one of the two DSL teams the Yankees have).
Vilorio had a success rate of 67% with stolen base attempts (8-for-12), so once he gets in more games, especially in FCL where he’ll face a mix of international and American players, we should get a better idea of how his jumps are, what his speed is like, etc. I did see part of one game where he stole second, and he got a very good jump, going before the pitcher even threw the ball. Vilorio showed good speed, but I could not find a broadcasted game to actually time speed properly, so I’m unable to score him appropriately.
As far as his defense goes, we can really only scout the statline, as the saying goes (you’re supposed to never scout the statline, but there’s not much choice here). Vilorio committed 5 errors in 70 total chances with 64 putouts and 1 assist for a fielding percentage of .929.