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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6-foot-6

225-pounds

Right-handed

Starting pitcher

24-years-old

In a recent interview between New York Yankees Underground and Grayson Crawford, the Yankees’ Double-A pitching coach, we asked him who his “picks to click” were for 2024. The first name that came out of his mouth was Zach Messinger.

This was no slip of the tongue. Messinger has all of the qualities you look for in a pitcher with an impending improvement in performance. He has size, good stuff, multiple offspeed offerings, improving control, he misses bats, and he eclipsed the 100 innings mark for the first time in his career in 2023.

Messinger was one of my top picks to break out in 2023, but as I always say sometimes it doesn’t happen when you think it will. He finished the year with a 4.35 ERA and 120 K : 54 BB in 101.1  innings for the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades. Batters hit .226 against him. He started a career high 21 games and was able to hold his velocity and stuff late into games. 2024 should be the year he is free of any innings restrictions.

Stuff-wise, Messinger has a 91-95 mph fastball with a changeup, slider, and curveball as his secondary pitches. The fastball has reached higher than 95 a few times already. He gets good movement on his secondary pitches and generates a lot of swings and misses. At 6-foot-6, there is a high probability he can build more velocity as time goes on.

2024 could be the year Messinger puts himself on the map as a potential frontline starter. The ingredients are all there to make that leap. His ceiling is in that realm, while his floor at this point would be a middle reliever in the major leagues.

He finished the year with a start in Double-A and I would expect him to start there next year. With the talented arms surrounding him at the level, there will be plenty of healthy competition. Messinger will look to fulfill his potential and put himself at the forefront of that competition for a promotion to Triple-A before the end of the season.

Anytime a Double-A pitching coach gives accolades to a guy like Zach Messinger, it’s worth taking notice. Especially when that pitching coach is one of the best there is at his level. Zach brings a lot to the table and I’m expecting big things in 2024. As they say in the scouting community, “he’s arrow up,” which means he’s not done improving. He’s now just a couple steps away from the major leagues, and his time may be coming soon.

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