Ryan Garcia
Carlos Lagrange is throwing a 100 MPH sinker now, Yankees‘ top prospect George Lombard Jr. is making a mockery of Eastern League pitching, and Spencer Jones is either hitting the ball hard or striking out.
We could talk about those things, but you’ve likely already heard of them or seen them on social media, which is why we’re looking to highlight the lesser-known standouts from the early parts of the 2026 MiLB season.
The Yankees always seem to find a few guys who break out into prospects of note or trade bait, and we’re looking to identify some of those names before the masses catch up to them.
Looking at three players who have really impressed me in the first few games of the Minor League season, these Yankees’ prospects could go from flying under-the-radar to notable names in just a couple of months.
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Jack Cebert Pitched Into the 8th Inning in First MiLB Start
The Yankees selected Jack Cebert in the 15th Round of the 2025 MLB Draft and he immediately debuted with the Hudson Valley Renegades as a reliever.
Usually the Yankees shutdown recently-drafted pitchers to allow them to work in their offseason program and make some necessary adjustments, but this route might have helped him build up more innings ahead of a role change.
While Texas Tech began using Cebert out of the bullpen ahead of his final season as a Red Raider, the Yankees planned to move him back into their starting rotation.
In his first MiLB start he fired 7.1 IP with three runs (two earned), eight strikeouts, and no walks as he showed off his deep pitch mix and solid spin capacity.
Jack Cebert has a low-but-wide release point which allows him to move the ball laterally very well, but he also can throw heaters with good ride at the top of the zone.
The pitch mix we saw during the Spring Breakout Game piqued my interest due to him having a tri-force which means he throws three different fastball shapes, and he does so with very distinct movement profiles.
He also has a pretty nasty sweeper with tons of movement, if he can continue expanding the arsenal to add pitches such as a curveball or changeup to help with left-handed batters he could be a very intruiging prospect.
Another area where he needs improvement is with holding velocity, he went from ~93-94 MPH to a 90-91 MPH from his first time through the order to the third time through the order.
This is a right-handed pitcher who spins the ball well, has a funky release point, and flashed 96-97 MPH velocity that could indicate he has more velocity to add.
Luis Serna Showed Why the Yankees Made Aggressive Promotion
Luis Serna struck out 10 batters across seven scoreless innings while issuing just one free pass, as he had an absolutely dominant High-A debut for the Hudson Valley Renegades.
His fastball has some ride and run, allowing him to throw it glove-side in order to steal strikes and freeze hitters, which he did multiple times against the Blue Rocks.
With a big looping curveball and a tight bullet slider to tie this repertoire together, Serna has the movement profile to miss bats and move up this system fairly quickly.
There’s a velocity jump from before he tore his UCL which isn’t all that uncommon for younger pitchers, and now he’s sitting around 93-94 MPH on his heater as a result.
I do want to warn people that changeup-first pitchers will overperform at the Minor League level because of how few good changeups these hitters tend to see at the lower levels of pro ball.
The visual look of his changeup would tell me that this pitch can be a highly-effective weapon at the Major League level due to the high-spin and outlier levels of movement.
Adding something that can spin into or away from hitters such as a sweeper or perhaps even a true sinker could help him alleviate any potential issues against better competition as he moves up the system.
Having a 70-grade offering matters a ton when evaluating very raw prospects, and if his other three pitches can perform at an average-to-above-average level, he could end up being a top 10 prospect in this system by the All-Star Break.
Is Coby Morales Going To Have a Breakout Season?
Coby Morales was an 18th Round Draft Pick for the Yankees in 2023, and while he’s never had a bad season in his pro career, he’s never really had an eye-popping campaign either.
He had solid results in High-A Hudson Valley last year before being moved up to Double-A and struggling to round out his 2025 season, but right now he’s off to a torrid start.
After hitting seven home runs in 115 games last season he’s hit two home runs already in his first seven games of the 2026 season, if there’s untapped game power that he’s suddenly found that could change his outlook moving forward.
There’s usually a solid amount of contact and patience in his profile when he’s going right, and if he can mantain that while doing more damage, he could become a commodity at the trade deadline.
Morales is a solid athlete who can handle the corners in the infield and outfield which does present some utility that could further boost his odds of reaching the Major Leagues.
George Lombard Jr. has clearly been the Yankees’ best position player prospect to start the 2026 season and I had zero intention to include him on this list given how much coverage I’ve already given there.
When I go on Tuesday to watch Somerset play the Fightin’ Phils, I’ll be keeping my eyes on Morales as well to see if he keeps up the power surge.
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