52 Pickup

By Domenic Lanza

November 2025

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NOTE: The following comes from EJ Fagan's substack page and is shared with permission.

Please check out EJ's substack page for more great articles.

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A whopping fifty-two players took the field for the Yankees this year, with a split of twenty position players and thirty-two pitchers. Surprisingly, I don’t think too many of them are entirely forgettable … but, personally, I forgot one player entirely, and wholly underestimated how much playing time a few others managed.

And so, as we await the fun part of the off-season, let’s briefly - and I stress the word briefly - reminisce about all of these folks.

And, for simplicity’s sake, we’ll work in alphabetical order.

David Bednar

The Yankees entered 2025 with two seemingly high-end closers set to hold down the eighth and ninth innings, both on the heels of a brilliant 2024. By season’s end, a guy who had a 5.77 ERA in 2024 and spent half of April in the minors ended up closing out games.

Clayton Beeter

Relievers with high-end velocity and a big breaking ball really do grow on trees nowadays, don’t they?

Cody Bellinger

5 WAR for the low, low price of one Cody Poteet. What a bargain.

Jake Bird

He looked awfully Beeter-ian in pinstripes, didn’t he? At least he had a checks notes 6.32 ERA and 4.84 FIP in Scranton.

Paul Blackburn

Low-leverage guys who can wear a blow-out have some value, and Blackburn’s ability to soak a few innings helped save a weakened Yankees bullpen. Kudos to him.

JT Brubaker

I have more memory of people hoping he would be Clay Holmes 2.0 than of him logging ten appearances in pinstripes this year.

José Caballero

Caballero was a breath of fresh air, serving as the sort of pesky, pain in the neck that you love to watch when he’s on your team, and hate as an opponent. Here’s to four more years in the Bronx.

Oswaldo Cabrera

Cabrera may have been miscast as a full-time player, but I am fully on-board with him as a Swiss army knife off the bench. His injury was one of the low points of the season, and I’m excited to see him back on the field.

Carlos Carrasco

A fine example of why you should never, ever take any stock in Spring Training stats.

Jazz Chisholm Jr.

In a bit over a season’s worth of PA with the Yankees, Chisholm has produced 5.7 WAR, 42 HR, 49 SB, and a 126 OPS+ - despite learning a new position on the fly last year. He’s one of the best pick-ups of Cashman’s career.

Fernando Cruz

Yerry De los Santos

Before the Yankees had Blackburn, they had De los Santos; though, to be fair, he was far more successful. I, for one, am shocked to see that he had a 3.28 ERA and 3.44 FIP in his mop-up role.

Jasson Domínguez

The defense is worrisome, but a 22-year-old posting a 101 OPS+ with excellent base-running is quite exciting. We’d be much more forgiving if he hadn’t been atop prospect lists for the last half-dozen years.

Camilo Doval

When he’s on, it’s difficult to imagine how anyone could ever hit him. When he’s not … well … there’s a reason why the Yankees got two and a half years of him for a middling return.

Scott Effross

I still don’t think he actually exists.

J.C. Escarra

Cromulent is an adjective, meaning acceptable or satisfactory. For example, “J.C. Escarra is a cromulent back-up catcher.”

Max Fried

By most worthwhile measures, Fried was a top-ten pitcher in Major League Baseball this year. And he reminds me of a left-handed Mike Mussina, to boot - that’ll play.

Rico Garcia

Garcia pitching in one game for the Yankees. He was waived by the Mets a few days prior, and picked-up by the Mets a few days later.

Luis Gil

The underlying metrics left a ton to be desired, but it was good to see him healthy after an extended absence.

Paul Goldschmidt

I appreciated his dead cat bounce in the first-half, but Goldschmidt looks cooked. In addition to not being able to hit righties, his underlying metrics against LHP tanked down the stretch.

Yoendrys Gómez

If you had asked me what happened to Gómez, I would have guessed that he was involved in one of the deadline deals. Much to my surprise, he was DFA’d in April to make room for … someone still to come.

Trent Grisham

Thank you for the career year. As much I wonder what 2024 would have looked like with you playing over Alex Verdugo, I am hesitant to be the team betting on this newfound level of production going forward.

Ian Hamilton

Hamilton was a true diamond in the rough for Cashman, as a minor league free agent that tossed some solid high-leverage innings for the Yankees over parts of three seasons. He probably won’t be back in 2026, but he was nevertheless a good find.

Geoff Hartlieb

Hartlieb was signed by the Yankees on July 6, and released on July 11. In between, he got into two games, allowing 9 baserunners and 6 runs in 1.1 IP.

Brent Headrick

I’ll forgive you if you thought that Geoff Hartlieb and Brent Headrick were the same person. That said, Headrick was surprisingly good in 23 innings for the Yankees, racking up 30 strikeouts against just 7 walks.

Tim Hill

I don’t know how it works - especially against righties - but I love to see it.

Aaron Judge

As great as Cal Raleigh was this season, there was no question that Judge was the far better player - and I thank the BBWAA for recognizing that.

Mark Leiter Jr.

Despite quality stuff, plenty of strikeouts, and a high-end ability to avoid solid contact, Leiter has been incredibly hittable in pinstripes, to the tune of 10.9 H/9 and a 4.89 ERA. He’s a non-tender candidate.

DJ LeMahieu

We’ll always have 2019 and 2020. That, and $15 MM off the books heading into the off-season.

Jonathan Loáisiga

Loáisiga was healthy and studly in 2021. Since then, he’s either been hurt or ineffective. I’d love to see him recapture his form, but I don’t think it’s worth the gamble his $5 MM club option represents.

Tyler Matzek

He has an interesting nickname. (Go to the substack for more.)

Ryan McMahon

I may be too optimistic here, but I think McMahon is going to have a career year in 2026 - if only because the baseline (4.0 WAR and a 98 OPS+) is relatively low. If not, I’m still quite happy to watch the man play defense.

Adam Ottavino

It’s kind of wild to me that Ottavino was only able to score a three-game stint with the Yankees, after a solid overall 2024 with the Mets. If he retires, he’ll head into the sunset with 15 WAR in parts of 15 seasons.

Oswald Peraza

Okay: I’m ready to admit that it’s not going to happen.

Pablo Reyes

Reyes only got into 24 games this year, and didn’t play after June 13. Somehow, it feels as if he was always lingering on the periphery of the bench.

Ben Rice

I don’t think anyone could have asked for more from Rice this year - especially the .752 OPS against LHP. I’m not sure what his long-term role is with the Yankees, but I think he has a ton of surplus value, be it in pinstripes or in a trade.

Carlos Rodón

If we can all agree to give Rodón a mulligan on his injury-riddled 2023, his contract doesn’t look half-bad - especially by bWAR’s reckoning. Here’s hoping last month’s surgery is the only speed bump of 2025.

Amed Rosario

Rosario is an extremely limited role player, given his subpar glove and inadequacies against right-handed pitchers. That said, he did exactly what the Yankees needed him to do down the stretch and in the playoffs.

Jayvien Sandridge

I have no memory of this place.

Cam Schlittler

Schlittler was money down the stretch and saved the Yankees postseason with one of the most epic performances they’ve had in recent memory. I am incredibly excited to see what he does next.

Clarke Schmidt

It’s hard to believe that Schmidt has pitched in parts of six seasons for the Yankees already, and that he’ll be turning 30 during Spring Training. I truly hope that he can have another full, healthy season … though, that won’t be 2026.

Austin Slater

Slater was basically a non-factor, after hurting his hamstring in his first start in pinstripes. Lefty-mashing corner outfielders aren’t too hard to find, but I’d be willing to give him another chance.

Giancarlo Stanton

Was 2025 the perfect representation of the Stanton Experience? I’d say so, as he missed half the season and alternated between unstoppable and unplayable, and through it all remained inherently likable.

Marcus Stroman

The end came quickly for Stroman, who went from trade bait to luxury sixth starter to the rotation to unemployed in the blink of an eye.

Jorbit Vivas

I know this is not grammatically correct, but I ‘nothing’ Jorbit Vivas. I have no opinion on him nor his performance at all - and I don’t know what, if anything, that says about me.

Anthony Volpe

This was the worst season of Volpe’s career, as he looked utterly lost at the plate, on the bases, and in the field. I think 2026 is a make-or-break season for him, as the youth and injury excuses can’t possibly continue for four full seasons … right?

Will Warren

Schlitter’s dazzling debut pushed Warren’s rookie season into the background a bit, but make no mistake - his taking the ball every fifth day and offering up league-average-ish performance was a boon for the Yankees. This may be who he is, and I am completely fine with that.

Luke Weaver

Part of me wants to chalk his poor performance post-injury up to rushing back, but I can’t completely ignore the frustrating nature of relievers as a whole, or his track record pre-pinstripes. I’d take him back on a short-term deal, with heavily tempered expectations.

Austin Wells

I love his defense, and his raw power is no joke - but the drop in his walk rate (from 11.4% to 6.7%) and spike in strikeouts (+5.3%) does not bode well. And in the playoffs we saw just how poorly a lineup with three glove-first batters (Wells, Volpe, and McMahon) could fare.

Devin Williams

Williams looked like the old vintage as the Yankees battled for the division in September, and was great in the playoffs. His performance as a whole was disappointing, to be sure, but I cannot find fault in the process that brought him over.

Allan Winans

When Winans was first called up, I had absolutely no idea who he was. Unlike Sandridge, though, I do remember his brief tenure - hooray?

Ryan Yarbrough

I have a deep, unexplainable fondness for swing guys and long relievers, so I was way too pleased when the Yankees signed (and then re-signed) Yarbrough. He shouldn’t be an arm that they are too reliant on, yet he is a true luxury in the modern age of baseball.