The New York Yankees are preparing for an important spring training that marks one year after the start of COVID-19. It was only a month from now that operations completely shut down, and the season was postponed to the summer. The hope is that baseball will continue on normally this season, and while there will be complications with positive cases, they now know how to deal with them more efficiently.
The Yankees are bringing a ton of new faces to compete during spring training, and they made two new signings to add to the list. The majority of their non-roster invites are minor-league players and depth pieces, which is understandable. The starting roster is all but secured, the players will find their way into the alternate squad.
The Yankees signed two more players to add to the non-roster invites to Spring Training:
1.) Derek Dietrich
Dietrich is a former second-round pick in the 2010 June amateur draft, and at 31 years old, spent the last eight seasons with the Miami Marlins, Cincinnati Reds, and Texas Rangers. Last season he posted a .197 average with five homers and eight RBIs. He did strike out 28% of the time, a career-high.
Derek is known for his hidden power, with his best season coming in 2016 o when he posted a .279 average. His most HRs came in 2019, which is only two years removed, hitting 19. He is an interesting player that offers power to the lineup and a lefty bat for some diversity. This is actually a solid signing that the Yankees could find value in.
2.) Nick Goody
Nick Goody was a former teammate of Dereks in 2020 but struggled in Texas last season. The relief pitcher gave up 11 runs in 11 innings last year but was strong in 2019 with the Cleveland Indians, posting a 3.54 ERA over 40.2 innings. His best season came in 2017 when he finished with a 2.80 ERA over 54.2 innings. He actually spent two seasons with the Yankees back in 2015 and 2016, so he has familiarity with their system and expectations.
Full non-stoer invite list:
- RHP Kyle Barraclough
- OF Michael Beltre
- C Rob Brantly
- OF Sócrates Brito
- OF Jay Bruce
- RHP Jhoulys ChacÃn
- C Robinson Chirinos
- LHP Nestor Cortes Jr.
- C Kellin Deglan
- INF Derek Dietrich
- RHP Luis GarcÃa
- INF Chris Gittens
- RHP Nick Goody
- OF Ryan LaMarre
- LHP Lucas Luetge
- LHP Tyler Lyons
- OF Thomas Milone
- INF Andrew Velazquez
- RHP Adam Warren
- RHP Asher Wojciechowski