Another top pitching prospect that New York Yankees fans should be paying attention to is young Miguel Yajure. Yajure possesses one of the deepest pitching repertoires in the entire farm system and has pitched his way up to being the New York Yankee’s fourteenth ranked prospect. Yajure missed the 2017 season after getting Tommy John surgery, but Yajure has bounced back and then some since the surgery. Yajure features four pitches that are all at or above average. Yajure is the type of pitcher that is going to go right after hitters, but he’s not going to be able to overpower hitters with his fastball. Yajure has a fastball that sits in the 93-95 range, but he complements that pitch with his secondary offerings. He likes to throw his changeup a lot and has a decent 12-6 curveball which can keep hitters honest. The biggest weapon, in my opinion, is a pitch that he just started throwing in the last year and that was his cutter. Entering the 2019 season, Yajure didn’t feature the cutter, but that pitch proved to be one of the keys to a very successful 2019 campaign.
Impressive 2019
2018 was a really good year for Yajure coming off TJ surgery. Yajure was able to go 4-3 with a 3.90 ERA in 14 starts. All of his numbers took a significant jump in 2019. Showing off polished mechanics and a really good feel for all of his pitches, Yajure dominated the minors in 2019. In 24 games against Advanced A and Double-A competition, Yajure went 9-6 with a 2.14 ERA. Yajure was able to strike out just under nine batters per nine innings and had a very good WHIP of 1.07. Yajure has a really good command and goes right after hitters. He is not going to walk a ton of batters, and he’s able to produce a ton of weak contact. That cutter has really changed the whole outlook on Yajure. He loves to throw the pitch when he’s behind in counts because he has such good command of that pitch. When hitters are gearing up for a fastball, he throws his cutter which is able to generate a ton of weak contact which can get him out of jams. Yajure is pitching like a veteran pitcher in the minors and he displays a great feel for the game. While his name isn’t as sexy right now as Clarke Schmidt or Deivi Garica, his name is one to definitely keep your eyes on.
High Floor
While there might be more prospects in the system that have higher ceilings, there might not be as many prospects who have higher floors. MLB Pipeline says that the floor for Yajure at this point would be a 4-5 starter in a major league rotation. However, if he continues to progress down the path he’s heading, it’s not crazy to think he could be a 2-3 starter in a major league rotation. Whenever the season gets underway, I would like to see Yajure continue to develop his offspeed pitches to compliment his fastball and cutter. If he can keep those pitches progressing on the same path as his fastball and cutter, Yajure is the type of pitcher who can rise extremely quickly through the farm system. Definitely a player that New York Yankee fans should be paying attention to when the 2020 season gets underway.