The New York Yankees announced that they added three players onto their 40-man roster, as RHP Yerry De Los Santos, OF Taylor Trammell, and C J.C. Escarra join the team’s active roster. These three players spent the majority or entirety of their 2024 campaigns at the Triple-A level with the Yankees’ affiliate in Scranton, and this protects them from Minor League free agency. It does not have implications on the Rule 5 Draft, which will be held at the Winter Meetings in December.
With the Yankees’ increasing their 40-man roster ahead of open free agency tomorrow night, these three players do bring some intrigue with them.
Trio Of MiLB Veterans Join the Yankees 40-Man Roster
One of the coolest success stories from the Yankees’ farm system this season came with 29-year-old catcher and first baseman J.C. Escarra, who had been out of affiliated baseball since 2021. This season he hit four home runs with a 102 wRC+ across 72 games in Double-A before catching fire in Triple-A, where he smashed eight home runs with a 142 wRC+ in 52 games with the Scranton RailRiders.
It was only his second stint at the highest level Minor League Baseball has to offer, and he’s yet to make his Major League debut. The Yankees may not retain him on their roster once the offseason is all said and done, as they’ve shown they will roster players solely as 40-man fodder to later be DFA”d after a transaction. If he were to be DFA’d, I believe a team would take a flier on a player who displayed excellent swing decisions and raw power in Triple-A.
His teammate Taylor Trammell also enjoyed a lot of success this season at the Triple-A level, as the left-handed swinging outfielder belted 18 home runs in 106 games with a 127 wRC+. His raw power is truly phenomenal, topping 114 MPH in terms of exit velocity this season, but his contact abilities leave a lot to be desired. Still, he’s a speedy outfielder with the ability to play three different positions and could be outfield depth in 2025.
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Yerry De Los Santos is the lone pitcher in this wave of transactions, and the right-hander was solid as a reliever in the run-heavy International League. With a 4.12 ERA and 50.3% GB% in a league where the average ERA is north of 5.00, De Los Santos had a strong season and flashed his mid-90s sinker with a slider and changeup. He was a strike-thrower, walking 7.4% of batters faced with 54.8% of his pitches landing in the strike zone.
He relied heavily on his sinking fastball, and while the Yankees didn’t utilize him at the Major League level this year, I wouldn’t be shocked to see him get some reps in 2025. After the All-Star Break, De Los Santos posted a 2.19 ERA with a 30.4% K%, and while there weren’t many notable changes to his pitch movement or velocity, he began using his slider a lot more and picking up a ton of whiffs as a result.
The Yankees should look at him closely in Spring Training, as he has a very real shot of being a breakout bullpen arm in his age-27 season.