Ryan Garcia
Ben Hess was the Yankees’ first-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, which made it fairly surprising that his excellent 2025 campaign flew under the radar.
By sharing the spotlight with Carlos Lagrange and his 100+ MPH fastball and Elmer Rodriguez who has a deep mix and excellent poise, Hess has been overshadowed.
This is despite how well the right-hander has performed throughout his time with the Yankees’ organization, adn he opened his 2026 season with a nine-strikeout performance across five innings.
Allowing two runs in Somerset’s drubbing of the Portland SeaDogs to open their season, Hess is looking more and more like a potential impact starter, and he could make his debut in the Bronx this summer.
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The Yankees Could Have a Nice Rotation Piece in Ben Hess
It was Ben Hess’ eighth start at the Double-A level, where he now has a 2.81 ERA and a 32.9% strikeout rate for the Somerset Patriots.
His fastball-curveball combination is excellent as he can establish the top of the zone with some heat before breaking off a nasty hook that generates whiffs and chases out of zone.
Among MiLB pitchers with at least 100 innings pitched since 2025, Hess has the sixth-best K% (33.6%) and the eighth-best K-BB% (22.4%), and there are some new weapons that could make him even nastier.
Greg Johnson of the Trentonian reported that Hess has been working on a new cutter to give him a deeper mix while also potentially giving him something that’s easier to throw for strikes.
Furthermore, it shoukld compliment his sweeper, curveball, and fastball well as it will bridge his fastball to his breaking balls.
Being able to keep hitters from easily reading when a pitch is a breaking ball or a fastball could help Hess cut down on his walk rates, which have been around 10% since his promotion from High-A Hudson Valley.
Sometimes you’ll see Hess lose the zone, if he has a cutter to lean on that pitch can be a high-strike weapon and in two-strike situations some of his breaking balls could induce more chases.
This was a pitch that Cam Schlittler added last season and after some more finetuning with it during the 2025 season, he was able to make it into arguably his best pitch.
Since the Yankees named Sam Briend their Pitching Coordinator and Matt Blake their Pitching Coach, the team is second in Cutter Usage% (8%) among MLB teams, only trailing the Blue Jays.
Pitchers such as Gerrit Cole and Max Fried have thrown excellent cutters in their time with the Yankees, if the same can be done with Ben Hess he could become an easy top-100 prospect in the game.
The Yankees might have names who draw more attention right now at the Major League and Minor League levels but Ben Hess’ upside should not be overlooked.
He can miss bats at a high rate with his pitches, and if he continues developing his command and mix, this could be one of the Yankees’ next homegrown pitching studs.
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