The Yankees Farm System is Off to a Good Start

by EJ Fagan

May 17, 2025

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NOTE: The following comes from EJ Fagan's substack page and is shared with permission. This was published a few days ago so the stats don't include the last few games.

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

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Last year was an undeniable disaster for Yankees prospects. All of their up-and-coming hitters were overmatched. Their pitching was even worse between injuries and poor performance. They started the 2025 season with probably their weakest stock of talent in a decade.

Things have changed in 2025. There’s a ton of good news to report, especially on the pitching front. Let’s go level-by-level.

Triple-A

The story of Triple-A has undeniably been the emergence C/3B/DH Jesus Rodriguez. The Yankees have been pumping out catchers who can hit for some time now. Wells, Rice and Escarra are on the major league roster, Agustin Ramirez is killing it for the Marlins and Carlos Narvaez is the Red Sox starting catcher.

Rodriguez is the next guy up. He’s hitting .372/.477/.488 with a 12% strikeout rate. He’s primarily playing catcher, but has also continued to play a game per week or so at third base. The xStats are similar. His average exit velocity is 89 mph, which is below average for a major leaguer but not horribly so for a contact hitter.

This offseason, Fangraphs said that he’s a raw but athletic catcher but a solid defensive third baseman. He could end up as a major league option pretty soon, but I’d bet that the Yankees keep him at catcher and trade him. Agustin Ramirez fetched Jazz Chisholm a year ago.

Elsewhere on the roster: TJ Rumfield and Everson Pereira are off to strong starts, although Pereira is still striking out a ton. He could be a decent trade piece at the deadline.

Double-A

Spencer Jones is showing the best in-game power of his career, but he’s still striking out 31% of the time. He just strained his intercostal, so he’ll miss some time. But I think it’s officially time to put him on Breakout Watch. Rafael Flores, another bat-first catcher, has also been good and strikeout-prone.

Cam Schlittler has carried his strong Spring Training into real games. He’s posting a 2.18 ERA with a hair more strikeouts and much better control than last year. At 6’6” and a fastball that hits 98, control really is the whole ballgame. A promotion is coming soon. Maybe he’ll be a major league option (or trade bait) by July.

The dark horse to watch is Brandon Beck. He was a college 2nd round pick all the way back in 2021, but has only started 10 games (in 2023) due to various injuries. He’s at 91-94 mph on the fastball with a strong curveball/slider combo. He was always one of those guys that scouts said, “If he’s healthy, he’s a major league starter,” so keep on eye on him. He’s pitched six starts with a 1.91 ERA and very strong K/BB rates.

George Lombard Jr. struggled in his first week at Double-A. Expect a learning curve given how young he is. But his early season has gone spectacularly well overall. He’s as good of a prospect as Volpe or Dominguez were at the same age.

High-A

Here’s where it gets real fun. The Hudson Valley rotation has been incredible to start 2025.

The Yankees drafted college pitchers Ben Hess and Bryce Cunningham with their top two picks last year. The story for both was pretty much the same: big strong dudes with great stuff but poor in-game results. Both have had excellent starts to 2025. Hess has a 3.23 ERA and a K/9 over 13, but a BB/9 near 5.

Cunningham, who was higher ranked by most but drafted second, has an ERA under 2.00, a strikeout rate near 10 and a walk rate under 2. He pitched three years at Vanderbilt, so I wouldn’t be shocked to see him promoted quickly to Double-A.

Elmer-Rodriguez Cruz has been almost as good, with an ERA under 2.00, great strikeout rates and workable walk rates. The Yankees acquired him from the Red Sox for Carlos Narvaez last year. He’s throwing 95-98 with a slider/change combination. At 21, he would be eligible for the draft as a college junior, and Fangraphs speculated before the season that he would be a hypothetical first round pick. He’s another quick promotion candidate.

But the best news of them all is Carlos LaGrange. He’s a 21 year-old 6’7” righty who popped out on prospect lists a few years ago as a high ceiling lottery ticket, but barely pitched in games. Fangraphs compared him to Luis Gil as an all-stuff, low-control pitcher.

He’s now pitched 32 innings across six starts with a K/9 of 14 and a BB/9 of just 2. His fastball is maxing out at 102 mph.

He’s definitely put on a lot of muscle over the last two years too. Don’t expect LaGrange to move quickly, but if he stays healthy he could be one of the very best pitching prospects in baseball with that stuff and control.

Low-A

Not much going on here. Edgeleen Perez is off to a slow start, but he’s only 19 years old.

Bottom Line

Between trading away half a dozen major league starters, injuries and a few guys not panning out, the Yankees minor league pitching stock was as bad as it has been in a very long time to start the season. Even with early season caveats, I think that we can confidently say that they have righted the ship. All of the guys I mentioned today have top-100 potential, and most could be major league options as early as Spring Training next year.

The hitting is more of a mixed bag. Lombard and Rodriguez are looking great. Spencer Jones, Everson Pereira and Rafael Flores are all showing incredible power but may strike out too much to be major league players. There aren’t a ton of other hitters to speak about, in part because the Yankees focused on pitchers in the 2024 draft and in part because most of their top prospect are teenage Latin American guys who haven’t played in real games yet.

The Yankees are very likely to be buyers at the trade deadline. A few months ago, I would have said that they wouldn’t have the pieces to compete for the best rentals. That’s no longer the case. They can make competitive offers without having to include Lombard Jr. or a major league piece in the trade.