Before the 6 pm deadline on Friday evening, the New York Yankees protected four players from the Rule 5 draft grabbag on December 10th. Those players were Alexander Vizcaino, Roansy Contreras, Yoendrys Gomez, and Oswald Peraza. Whether Vizcaino or any of the protected players have a big payday in their future remains to be seen, but being protected is the first path to that goal.
This year on the tenth, held each December because the baseball winter meetings have been canceled, the Rule 5 Draft allows clubs without a full 40-man roster to select certain non-40-man roster players from other clubs. … Players signed at age 18 or younger need to be added to their club’s 40-Man roster within five seasons or become eligible for the Rule 5 Draft.
For Vizcaino and the other protected players, it means they will automatically be invited to spring training at the George M. Steinbrenner training complex in Tampa, Florida. There they will be able to show their stuff and impress coaches and the front office. There is no guarantee that any of these players will make the team when the season begins. By being there and leaving a good impression, they know that when there are injuries, which there are sure to be, the impression they leave may trigger a shuttle ride to Yankee Stadium.
Vizcaino, a 23-year old that reminds scouts of a young Domingo German, was the pitcher the New York Yankees most wanted to protect. “He reminds me of [Domingo] German,†a scout said of the 6-foot-2, 160-pounder from the Dominican Republic, who went 6-6 with a 4.38 ERA in 21 games for High-A Tampa and Low-A Charleston in 2019, and struck out 128 in 115 innings. Vizcaino worked out at the alternate site at the Yankees’ Triple-A complex this past season.
The Yankees added Alexander Vizcaino to their roster today. Here's a fastball and two changeups from a spring game earlier this year (his changeup is considered to be his best pitch) pic.twitter.com/N6O3DrX7v0
— Lucas (@DBITLefty) November 20, 2020
Vizcaino is just one of the up and coming prospects in the Yankee pitching pipeline. He is following in the path of Luis Severino and Domingo German. This a product of that pipeline, say the young Deivi Garcia get one step closer to being a regular part of the New York Yankees making his major league debut in a doubleheader against the New York Mets. His final line was: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K. He ended the season pitching in six games with a 3-2 record and an ERA of 4.98.