Giancarlo Stanton and Gerrit Cole are dealing with some very scary elbow issues, and the Yankees could be staring down the barrel of losing at the very least one key part of their 2024 World Series run for the entire season.
They’re already without AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil for the next three months at the very least, and that could amount to losing ~5 projected WAR before we’ve even reached Opening Day. This forces some new faces with limited big-league experience into the limelight, now the Yankees could end up with four of their prospects on MLB.com’s top 30 prospects graduating in one season.
Sometimes a youth movement stabilizes a tumultuous roster, providing the depth needed to win games and get to the postseason. Last season, the combined efforts of Austin Wells (3.6), Anthony Volpe (3.4), Luis Gil (2.2), and Clarke Schmidt (1.7) helped elevate the 2024 Yankees to the World Series; and they’ll need to keep the youth movement working if they want to get back there in 2025.
Running Out of Time With the Yankees
These guys aren’t just fighting to prove they can make an impact in 2025, they’re fighting to keep their jobs with the Yankees right now. Out of Minor League options, Oswald Peraza and Yoendrys Gomez have to prove to the Yankees that they can help out, and with the state of their roster, both of these arms could make the team. Oswaldo Cabrera is all but certain to win the starting job at 3B if the team doesn’t add an infielder, and Oswald Peraza could platoon with him. He hasn’t been brilliant this Spring, but the Yankees may not have another choice as things stand right now.
He won’t get many games, but if he does do well with his opportunities, it wouldn’t take long for him to get starting reps and kiss his frequent shuttles from New York back to Scranton goodbye. The odds that he takes that kind of leap are pretty low, but projections believe it’s possible that he’s a short-side platoon bat with a good glove. I don’t think the Yankees are nearly as optimistic about Peraza, as evidenced by their reported hunt for a right-handed outfielder or third baseman.
They have rarely gone to him when injuries have flared up, his most playing time came playing in under 33% of the games during the franchise’s worst season in three decades, and this may be his final chance to impress the Yankees. As for another youngster out of Minor League options, injuries may have cleared the way for a roster spot.
Yoendrys Gomez has seen his fastball velocity return from his 2023 season, where he looked like an up-and-coming bullpen prospect ripe with potential. Sitting 94 MPH with plus extension and vertical movement, his four-seamer is a tough pitch to handle at the top of the zone, especially because Gomez releases from a lower release height than most pitchers. His breaking balls are even better than his fastballs, with sweepers that generate over 15 inches of lateral movement and curveballs that drop > 50 inches on average.
With Tyler Matzek, Jake Cousins, Clayton Beeter, and JT Brubaker all headed to the IL to start the season, the Yankees might value the multi-inning versatility of Gomez, who is best suited for a bullpen role. This was a pitcher who the Yankees liked so much that they placed him on the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft before he even reached High-A in 2020. If he continues to show signs of progress as a reliever, the Yankees might want to see what they have in the Venezuelan hurler.
The Duo Hoping To Fill A Giant Hole at DH
Ben Rice isn’t having a dominant Spring Training in the box score department, but he is destroying the baseball right now and could have a big season ahead of him. The Yankees believe they have a real weapon in Rice, who had a .343 xwOBA in his first big-league stint, with expected data being valued highly internally. It’s why the Yankees didn’t panic when Austin Wells had a 75 wRC+ and .293 OBP through his first 147 trips to the plate in 2024.
The expected numbers finally turned into results, and the Yankees saw their fringe top-100 prospect catcher put up the fourth-highest WAR for any player at the position last season. If Rice continues to pick up barrels and make good swing decisions the Yankees will continue to sign his praises internally and externally, and the offense could sustain the loss of Giancarlo Stanton if he lives up to his potential. Rice makes above-average swing decisions, does tons of damage on contact, and doesn’t have massive whiff issues.
That’s a package that could really play at the big-league level, but that doesn’t really solve the team’s issue against LHP, a problem that gets made even worse with the loss of Giancarlo Stanton.
READ MORE: Yankees’ $218 million investment might need to save the day in 2025
Everson Pereira has had a strong Spring Training and could snag a bench spot if he continues to show off his power at the plate. He was a top-100 prospect when he debuted in 2023 but got exposed in 27 MLB games, striking out 38.8% of the time without hitting a single HR. If the Yankees can get the righty masher to provide some thump against southpaws, they could let him play RF or LF and either move Aaron Judge or Jasson Dominguez into the DH spot for a game.
Coming back from Tommy John Surgery, Pereira might be best suited in Scranton where he can get his feet underneath him again, and that does dial down the pressure for him a little bit. Still, if the Yankees opt to focus on third base and leave the DH spot untouched, they could trust Everson Pereira enough to run into some home runs. He has 70-grade Raw Power and makes good swing decisions but awful contact rates, and while there are some very good hitters in that player archetype, there are some serious duds too.
For every Mark Vientos and Matt Wallner, there’s a Gabriel Arias and Jo Adell, it’s like trying to play darts blindfolded.
Rookies Who Should Start Right Out of the Gate
Jasson Dominguez slots in as the Yankees’ full-time left fielder for the 2025 season, and his ability to make good swing decisions while swinging the bat harder than most is truly impressive. Coming off of a healthy offseason, Dominguez is averaging over 76 MPH in terms of swing speed, which puts him in the same breath as hitters like Aaron Judge, Kyle Schwarber, and Shohei Ohtani. His ability to do damage on contact is excellent and if he can add some home run power to the middle of the offense we could see a big season from their top prospect.
He has a 109 wRC+ through his first 100 trips to the plate in the Major Leagues, hitting nine home runs and having a 13% walk rate. The Yankees believe that he can be a star, but there are some aspects of Dominguez’s game that need work if he wants to be a key contributor. He’ll have to figure out how to lift the ball more often while playing better defense in the corner outfield, if he can improve in both regards we could be looking at a star-caliber player. He’s the Yankees’ best shot at being a game-changer on offense, and if the tools click, he could hit 25 HRs with a .350 OBP in 2025.
The Yankees have long-awaited a full season of Jasson Dominguez, and he could be quite the impactful player in left field.
I don’t think the Yankees expected Will Warren to make their starting five, but as things stand right now he’s the clear favorite for the fifth spot. Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil won’t be ready for Opening Day, and another elbow injury for their ace could open the door for a rookie starter to take off. Warren has displayed an elite changeup thus far in Spring Training and has some of the best stuff in the organization, but his struggles in 2024 left a sour taste in the fanbase’s mouth. He posted an ERA over 10.00 last season, and yet the Yankees believe his ERA could start with a 3 in 2025.
His four-seamer is a tough pitch to handle at the top of the zone, his sinker can steal strikes, and his sweepers are moving even more than it did last season. The right-hander has finetuned his arsenal and could both pick up groundballs and rack up strikeouts at the same time. If the Yankees can truly unlock the potential Will Warren has with that new changeup, we could be looking at a premium young starter firmly in the Rookie of the Year race, or we could be looking at a pitcher who is better-suited for a bullpen role.
There may never be a better opportunity for Will Warren to prove himself than this one, and the Yankees need him more than ever before right now. If the Yankees are going to remain in contention they need these two to develop into above-average contributors, and that puts a ton of pressure on the team’s player development group, one that Hal Steinbrenner has raved about multiple times publicly.
Over $60 million of talent on the roster could miss the entire 2025 season between Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton, and that means Hal Steinbrenner can test the theory that the Yankees don’t need a $300 million roster to win it all. If they want to win the World Series they will need that very same player development group that he believes could produce in place of cold-hard cash to deliver big-time. It won’t take every young player on this list, but it will take some form of production from a majority of them to ensure the Yankees can remain title contenders.