Late 2024 Yankees Top 30 Prospects: 30-26
The Minor League season is coming to a close (or in the case of FCL/Bridge League and Low-A Tampa, the 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.
30: OF Jackson Castillo – ETA: 2027; OFP: 40; Risk: High
Castillo was very impressive in many facets of the game, from his bat to his fielding. Castillo, a lefty bat, maintained a batting average over .300 in the few games spent with High-A Hudson Valley (he lost a week in mid-August to a 7-day IL stint). Castillo held a wRC+ of 148 in High-A and 131 in Low-A, plus had a K% under 20%. In the last 7 games of the regular season, Castillo batted .381, recording a hit in 6-of-7 games, including a game versus Jersey Shore where he went 3-for-5 and hit 2 doubles. Impressive stuff given his small-ish 5-foot-9 frame.
Castillo spent most of the season in CF (607.1 innings) and has only committed 2 errors. He runs efficient routes, but his arm is an underwhelming average.
29: LHP Kyle Carr – ETA: 2027; OFP: 40; Risk: High
Carr debuted this past April with High-A Hudson Valley, which surprised some given the rocky start he had there. Carr settled in once the calendar flipped to June, throwing his first career shutout in 5 innings of work. While Carr is capable of solid outings, throwing a 0.95 ERA in the first 4 outings in August (2 ER in 19 IP), but then had a rough 7 hit, 6 run, 4 earned runs where he threw in 4 innings of work in the last start in August.
Carr’s K/9 and BB/9 are about average and given he has been capable of 8 strikeouts in a game, the challenge for next season will be to see more of that. Carr has a mix of fastball that sits upper-90s and a slurvy slider looking pitch as a breaking ball that sits low-90s. Both pitches have good command, but what needs some work is getting batters to chase, since he doesn’t have a true breaking ball.
Of balls in play, Carr has a nearly 50% ground ball rate, with nearly equal splits of line drives (22.9%) and fly balls (27.4%). Also, Carr has a BABIP of .313, which is a little concerning. It should also be noted, however, that Carr was part of a combined no-hitter this past July, as seen in the video below. The talent is absolutely there, but like other arms in the lower levels, he must become more consistent. You may get a shutout, or you may get a blowout, but this is what the Yankees expected for a 3rd round selection.
28: 2B/SS Enmanuel Tejeda – ETA: 2028; OFP: 40; Risk: High
Tejeda had a handful of injury issues this past year, ending his season in June after tumbling down the 1st base line, suffering a lower leg injury and landing on the full-season IL in late July. That said, despite only playing in 48 games, Tejeda batted well over .300 (.326 between FCL and Low-A), and likely would have been promoted to High-A at some point in the season had been not been injured so much.
Tejeda has a very polished swing for an international player in only his 3rd year of pro ball and is just as smooth on the field. Tejeda, if his leg is healed for the start of the 2025 season, should start at High-A.
27: Trystan Vrieling – ETA: 2026; OBP: 40; Risk: High
Vrieling has not had a great season, despite a strong first few games with Somerset in April. His ERA stayed close to 5 for much of the season, and has an average K/9 of 8, and average BB/9 of 2.80. Vrieling’s mid-90s fastball has some late sink to it, and he also has a mid-80s cutter he uses as an “out” pitch where the bottom falls out just before it hits the plate, along with a high-70s/low-80s curveball. Vrieling’s command is not great but does flash brilliance at times when he happens to catch the corner of the zone.
Vrieling may be better used down the road as a middle-inning reliever, where he only pitches an inning or two. While he has limited splits in the latter part of a game, Vrieling has only allowed 1 hit and no runs in 7 IP between the 7th and 9th innings of games this season.
26: C/1B Rafael Flores – ETA: 2026; OBP: 40; Risk: Low
Flores, a UDFA selection out of Rio Hondo Junior College in California, has been impressive even since his first pro game back in 2022, where he had a very small sample size of 7 games but went 6-for-14 in the regular season with 2 homers and 2 RBI (4 games) 6-for-11 in the playoffs with 3 RBI (3 games). Since then, he’s averaged a .272 BA and an OPS of .809 and has a wRC+ of 150.
Flores is a lot like Ben Rice in that while he’s a capable catcher, he seems to fit best at 1st base. Also like Rice, Flores packs above-average power in that plus bat. Given he spent most of the season in AA Somerset and did well there, he may begin 2025 with AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre if the Yankees feel aggressive enough.