Over the past several seasons, the Yankee minor league pipeline has produced such Yankee stars as Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino, Miguel Andujar, Domingo German, among others. Looking ahead, the pipeline has not dried up. The Yankees have plenty of pitchers, infielders, and outfielder progressing their way through the minors, and even one in the Dominican Republic that is presently named the Yankees number one Yankee prospect by Baseball America. His name is Jasson Dominguez.
We will start with the ones we may see on the major stage at Yankee Stadium: Clarke Schmidt: Schmidt was selected by the Yankees in the first round of the 2017 MLB Draft but did not play until 2018 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He advanced to Double-A Trenton. The 2019 season is the first full season that the Yankees got an extended look at Schmidt, and it looks promising. He has a fantastic fastball, curveball, and change. Last season he owned a 3.84 ERA in 12 games with High-A Tampa, which included 69 strikeouts over 63.1 innings. Later in the year, he was promoted to Double-A Trenton, Schmidt was even better with a 2.37 ERA over three starts (19 innings). He allowed only five earned runs and one homer while striking out 19 and walking one. Should there be pitching staff injuries, Yankee fans could see Schmidt as well as Jonathan Loaisiga at the Stadium to fill in.
Deivi Garcia: The Yankees signed Garcia in 2015. Garcia, at one time, was the Yankees number one pitching prospect. Garcia has a devasting curveball and an about average fastball. On the downside, he seems to tire as the game progresses and loses some of the velocity of his fastball. This is not overly unusual for a small framed young starter. Garcia is just 20 years old and is 5′ 9″ and weighs only 163 pounds wet. Many in baseball thought that we would see him in the majors last year. He, like Schmidt, may debut during the 2020 season.
Albert Abreu: Abreu is 24 and has been in the Yankee farm system since 2017, coming from the Houston Astros system. In his career, the 6′ 2″ righty has an average 3.77 ERA, but that figure is elevated because of 3 games bad starts where he averaged an ERA of 21.00. On September 30, 2019, the Yankees recalled Abreu from the double-A Trenton Thunder to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Unfortunately, due to injuries, he has slipped on some other lists, and his development has been stunted. Many feel that although he is a starter, his injury history coupled with his high walk rate that he may be better coming from the bullpen. That being said, Abreu’s velocity, power breaking ball, and nasty change-up make for an intriguing arm that could make his way to the majors down the stretch.
Estevan Florial: Once heavily touted Yankee prospect Estevan Florial has somewhat fallen from grace as he had a quite poor season at the Tampa Tarpons in 2019. Baseball America has dropped him off the top 10 Yankee prospects list. He had played in nearly 400 games since the Dominican has played in the minors for the Yankees. He finished last year with a .237 batting average at Tampa. his below-average contact skills and plate discipline have limited his in-game power, and Florial is still very raw as a base stealer. He has a powerful arm and would do well at the stadium due to his left hitting power and the Yankee stadium short right-field porch.
Jasson Dominguez: Although his major league debut is some years away, Jasson Dominguez is one of the most exciting Yankee prospects in years. The young Dominican has been compared to a young Mickey Mantle and a Mike Trout. I’ve seen videos of him batting in the Dominican Republic, and he seems to be a monster. The kid is just 16 years old but has the body of a much older player in his prime. He is an all-around, highly developed athlete.   His switch-hitting, power, and speed on the bases make him a big-time upcoming asset for the Yankees. He will continue to play and develop while at the Boca Chica facility in the Dominican Republic. The Yankees this past July gave him a $5MM signing bonus. Baseball America says he has the skills of players in the AA stage of advancement. Fantrax calls him a generational talent that could develop very quickly. If this is true and everything looks as though it is, the Yankees could see their youngest outfield superstar in many years, since the 21-year-old Joe DiMaggio.
Others in the pipeline are pitchers Luis Gil, Luis Medina, and Yoendrys Gomez. Outfielders Kevin Alcantara, Antonio Cabello, Canaan Smith, and Everson Pereira. Shortstops Alexander Vargas, Anthony Volpe, and Josh Smith. Infielders Maikol Escotto who plays SS, 2nd, and 3rd base and Oswald Peraza, who plays SS and 2nd base. The Yankees also catcher Anthony Seigler in the pipeline in addition to various lesser prospects at differing positions.