By Greg Corcoran

Despite trading away a multitude of right-handed starting pitchers over the past several years, it is still the position where the Yankees have the most depth organizationally. Almost inexplicably, they have been able to churn out talent from the draft and international free agency due to an impressive performance from their scouting and development staff.

The Yankees are pretty set with the righties in their current rotation. Most of the question marks surround the lefties. Gerrit Cole just has to stay healthy and he’s going to give you an ace-caliber performance. Marcus Stroman is a known quantity who pitches well season in and season out.

Clarke Schmidt is the third and last righty in the major league rotation. Of the three, he is the biggest question mark. He’s coming off a good season, especially after his slow start. Schmidt has made the necessary adjustments during the season and finished relatively strong. He arrived at camp with significant improvements in his repertoire, including well-needed adjustments to the sinker. I can’t see him doing any worse than last year and would predict that he finishes with better numbers in 2024. Even a repeat of 2023 would be acceptable, but I think there’s more upside coming.

If one of the exciting Triple-A prospects is not ready by the time injury strikes (more to come on that), the Yankees could turn to Luke Weaver. Weaver made three starts for the Yankees at the end of last year and played his best baseball of 2023. He will look to keep that ball rolling and take that success into 2024. Initially he’ll be in a middle relief role, but the Yankees could be the team that finally unlocks his potential as a starter too.

Cody Morris and Cody Poteet have both started games in the past two seasons. Both probably profile better out of the bullpen at this point but could make a few spot starts if the need arises. Despite being afterthoughts in their previous organizations, neither are junk-ballers by any stretch. Any way you slice it, these are good players to have around.

The Yankees will have some of their most exciting pitching prospects one step away in Triple-A to begin the season. Will Warren, Clayton Beeter, Luis Gil, and Yoendrys Gomez are all legitimate starting pitching prospects who could make an impact this season.

Will Warren has a deep repertoire with pitches darting in all directions. It’s not a matter of if but when he will get his shot at the rotation. Clayton Beeter has been relegated to the bullpen by many scouts, but the Yankees still believe in him as a starter. He throws four pitches and can reach the upper-90’s with the fastball. Beeter threw a career high 131.2 innings last year and struck out 165. He’ll need to improve his control to prove he’s major league ready. He has looked good in spring training with a fastball reaching 97 in his first pre-season game.

Luis Gil is the biggest wildcard of the bunch, if for no other reason than his time away due to injury. His fastball sits in the upper-90’s and has reached triple-digits as a starter. He’s always had a filthy slider, but word is he now has an effective changeup as well and has even added a cutter to the mix. It’s hard to predict what direction his career will go now that he’s fully healthy. He could be anything from a breakout starter to a reliever who can’t find enough control to get a shot in the majors. I’ll be keeping an eye on him in Triple-A though. He pitched his first game in spring training yesterday and hit 98 already on the radar with good movement.

Finally healthy for most of the season in 2023, Yoendrys Gomez threw a career high in innings. That only equated to 67.1 innings, but major progress was made. Gomez has a deep repertoire of above average pitches and good control. He could slot nicely into the Randy Vasquez/Jhony Brito role or slip into the rotation under the right circumstances.

The depth doesn’t end there either. Chase Hampton, who has been featured on several of the top 100 prospect lists this offseason, is one of the most exciting pitchers on the farm. His fastball reaches the upper-90’s and all of his pitches move. Hampton could approach the majors quickly and has the high ceiling of a front-end starter.

Zach Messinger was converted from reliever to the starting rotation and has just begun to scratch the surface of his potential. Messinger is a big kid with good stuff and should spend most of the year in Double-A this year. If he can cut down on the walks, he could move with a similar trajectory to Richard Fitts.

Tyrone Yulie and Blane Abeyta are pitchers with big stuff who haven’t been able to put it all together just yet. Both should begin the year in Double-A. Their pitches are good enough to where they could both break out if the control improves and health permits.

The Yankees have three righties in High-A worth monitoring. Justin Lange has incredible stuff with high-end velocity but just needs to improve his control. Jackson Fristoe improved his velocity late last season and is on the verge of a breakout season if he can stay healthy and improve his control. Baron Stuart is a big kid who went from an undrafted free agent to a legitimate prospect in one year. He has a three-pitch repertoire with big movement. His sinker has great spin and has reached 95 mph. This will be a big year for him to show he can continue to improve.

There will be a litany of talented starters competing for spots in the Low-A Charleston rotation. Luis Serna has impressed in spring training already. Trystan Vrieling will make his long-awaited debut this year. Carlos Lagrange has some of the best stuff in the system. Ryan Harvey is coming off a season where his stuff greatly improved and could break out this year.

Josh Grosz, Cade Smith, Brian Warrecker, and others from the 2023 draft are potential sleepers heading into the season. So many have gone into the gas station and came out different pitchers entirely, so you just don’t know what to expect until the season starts.

Finally, the FCL is poised to be an ocean of talent yet again. Angel Benitez is back from injury and might have better stuff than anyone from last year’s crop (high praise). Jerson Alejandro makes his highly anticipated stateside debut this year. Chalniel Arias, Sabier Marte, and Mariano Saloman are lesser-known guys who have the potential to become much bigger names this year. High school draft prospects Danny Flatt and Josh Tiedemann could make names for themselves this year too.

The Yankees farm system is stacked from top to bottom with right-handed starting pitcher prospects. The gravy train keeps on rolling, and that likely won’t change as long as the current scouting and development team stays in place. They are finding the right guys and molding them into prospects at a shocking rate. With all the names mentioned above, there are inevitably going to be several unmentioned players who seemingly come out of nowhere to impress us all in 2024. I’m here for it.

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By Greg Corcoran

The arrival of Matt Blake with the New York Yankees has been one of the best things to happen to the organization in the past decade. Coupled with Sam Briend, the duo has been able to transform the Yankees organization to a pitching factory. One of Blake’s greatest skills is turning seemingly ordinary relievers into studs. Recent examples of this are Clay Holmes, Ian Hamilton, and Ron Marinaccio.

It seems like a foregone conclusion that he’ll continue this trend in 2024, but with the talent present on the roster he may not have much work to do.

Clay Holmes is entrenched as the closer. While he has had some tough moments in pinstripes, all closers experience this from time to time. Most importantly, Holmes seems to get it together when it matters most.

There are several players who will be competing for a setup role with Wandy Peralta’s departure. Aaron Boone could use any combination of Tommy Kahnle, Jonathan Loaisiga, and new arrivals Caleb Ferguson and Victor Gonzalez in the role. Regardless of which direction he goes, there will be a litany of options.

Behind them are more quality relievers. They also have Ian Hamilton, Nick Ramirez, Ron Marinaccio, Luke Weaver, Cody Poteet, and recent acquisition Cody Morris on the 40-man roster. All of these players have qualities that could allow magician Matt Blake to turn them into effective major league relievers. The Yankees also just traded for lefty Clayton Andrews, who has a mid-90’s fastball, a nasty changeup, and also throws a slider.

By midseason, there will be reinforcements coming if needed. Scott Effross will make his return from back to back surgeries and the recently signed Lou Trivino will be back sometime this summer as well.

There is enough talent on the 40-man roster to put together yet another high-quality bullpen in 2024, but the depth does not end there.

In what now seems like a yearly tradition, the Yankees have acquired several relievers to stash in Triple-A and be ready to help when injuries strike.

Anthony Misiewicz had some promising appearances before the scary injury that ended his season. He will look to pick up where he left off in 2024. The Yankees picked up Yerry De Los Santos, Art Warren, and Kervin Castro in the offseason to supplement their depth.

Will Warren, Clayton Beeter, Yoendrys Gomez, or Luis Gil will begin the year as starters in Triple-A and could be used in the major leagues as relievers if a need arises. All four could be capable of filling the Randy Vasquez and Jhony Brito role which is now vacant.

The Yankees also have lefty Edgar Barclay, who made it all the way to Triple-A as soft-tossing lefties and could be called upon at any point to eat some innings.

The three-headed monster of Danny Watson, Jack Neely, and Bailey Dees could make a push this year for major league innings as well. Each of them can hit the upper-90’s and are above 6-foot-7. They are exciting future options for the Yankees’ bullpen.

The minor league system features some other exciting relievers as well. High-velocity reliever Luis Velasquez will likely get significant time in Double-A this year. Spin rate darling Harrison Cohen should also spend most of the season there.

Yorlin Calderon, Sebastian Keane, Mason Vinyard, Geoffrey Gilbert, and Osiel Rodriguez are relievers on the rise who will likely be featured in the High-A bullpen.

Eric Reyzelman, Brian Hendry, Kevin Stevens, and Cade Austin are some names to watch in Low-A this year, and the list goes on. As great as all of this sounds, I still haven’t even mentioned all of the starters below Triple-A who could transition to the bullpen later on. These types often turn out to be some of the best relievers in the league (see Dellin Betances).

As long as Matt Blake and Sam Briend are around, the Yankees will be in a great position to continue churning out high end relievers who make a major league impact. There’s no end in sight. For the foreseeable future, the Yankees will be fortunate to have a group that protects leads and keeps them in games. That’s all you can ask for in a bullpen.

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