This wasn’t the season that I had hoped for the Yankees to have on the Minor League level, but injuries hampered plenty of their top performers from the 2023 season. Add onto that the slew of trades they made between the offseason and deadline, and names that you saw near or at the top of Minor League leaderboards like Chase Hampton and Agustin Ramirez were either on the IL for too long or found themselves with other organizations. Nevertheless, the second half produced some fun storylines to follow as unlikely names would spark playoff pushes.
With the season being over for each of the Yankees’ Minor League Affiliates, here are the top performers from this campaign.
Hitter of the Year: Rafael Flores C/1B
Back in 2022 the Yankees signed Rafael Flores as an undrafted free agent and it has turned out to be one of their best decisions of that draft class. Across two levels of Minor League Baseball with the Hudson Valley Renegades and Somerset Patriots, he hit 21 home runs which was the second-most in the organization behind Ben Rice. He slashed .279/.379/.495 with a 149 wRC+, and he added two home runs in the postseason as he helped the Somerset Patriots reach the Championship Series where they unfortunately lost in two games.
His run with Double-A was superbly impressive because of how great the underlying metrics were, hitting just 35.5% of his batted balls on the ground with a 11.9% Swinging Strike% and 46.4% Pull%. Lots of pulled contact in the air results in lots of home runs, and he hit 15 in just 65 regular-season games. We’ve seen him reach exit velocities of around 113 MPH, and the Yankees will see him in the Arizona Fall League this month where he’ll get to play more games and get more reps.
An excellent power hitter, the Yankees should be very excited about what he can become in 2025 where he has a chance to break onto their 40-man roster at some point during the season.
Pitcher of the Year: Cam Schlittler RHP
Cam Schlittler was mightily impressive across three levels of professional baseball, where he flashed excellent strikeout stuff. He had the second-best ERA for a pitcher in the Yankees’ organization with at least 100 innings pitched, and he led the Yankees in strikeouts at 154. The right-hander has flashed 95-96 MPH on his fastball with two excellent breaking balls, and I was very impressed with his ability to both pick up whiffs and limit damage contact.
There were 42 pitchers who recorded at least 100 innings and posted a groundball rate of at least 50%, and only two other pitchers posted a higher strikeout rate than he did. The Yankees have an arm with excellent stuff who has some command issues but is very projectable thanks to his 6’6 frame. With his strong underlying metrics in Double-A, I think the Yankees can look at him as someone who could finish the season in Triple-A, and he’s starting to gain some traction thanks to his excellent volume and per rate efficiency.
A potential middle of the rotation starter, expect him to be a popular pick to click for 2025.
Reliever of the Year: Eric Reyzelman RHP
You could argue that Eric Reyzelman would be the best pick for another award we’ll discuss later on, but I named him the organization’s reliever of the year. He struck out 63 batters across 38.2 innings pitched, posting a 1.16 ERA and 0.96 WHIP. Reyzelman had a 40.9% strikeout rate and while he walked 12.3% of batters faced, you’ll take it with how much he avoided damage contact.
His three-pitch mix is gross, sitting in the upper-90s with good vertical ride from a lower release height, and his slider and changeup are great secondary offerings. He’s a stuff+ darling who can punch tickets with the best of them, and the Yankees should be very excited about what he can provide for the team in 2025. I think there’s a legitimate chance Eric Reyzelman gets a quick stint in Triple-A before a big-league promotion, his stuff is wicked and I think there are few players in the organization who are more MLB ready.
There’s some rockstar-closer vibes here with Eric Reyzelman. He’s got the power fastball, the wipeout secondaries, and plenty of tenacity on the mound.
Rookie of the Year: Cade Smith RHP
An injury would end Cade Smith’s season early, but he enjoyed a ton of success in Single-A with the Tampa Tarpons as a swing-and-miss machine. His four-seamer generates over 17 inches of vertical movement from a low release height which allows it to be a solid weapon at the top of the zone, setting up a brilliant gyro slider that became a whiff machine for the right-hander. He had a 46.9% Whiff Rate and 39% Chase Rate on the pitch, and overall batters had a near 36% Whiff Rate against Smith at Single-A.
With a 3.65 ERA and 3.37 FIP between Single-A and High-A, Smith showed off plenty of encouraging signs for the 2025 season. He was drafted in the 6th Round of the 2023 Draft Class, one that struggled to produce much value in year 1, and if he can add some more velocity to sit closer to 94 MPH on the fastball as I think it could help him generate a ton of strikeotus at the top of the zone, further deeping his arsenal of whiff weapons.
Entering his age-23 season next year, Cade Smith reminds me a lot of Richard Fitts when he first came up with the Yankees.
Most Likely to Join the Yankees in 2025: Caleb Durbin UTL
A breakout prospect last year, Caleb Durbin went to the Arizona Fall League last year and showed off some improving game power. He hit 10 home runs in 82 games this year, the most he’s hit in a Minor League year, and he posted a 129 wRC+ in Triple-A with excellent strikeout to walk numbers. A pulled flyball machine who doesn’t have much raw power, Durbin has a modern approach for a contact hitter and could have 10-15 HR power at the big-league level.
The question is whether he can bring the average and OBP to the big leagues, as if he’s a .260/.340/.410 guy at the big-league level, it’ll create for an above-average bat with excellent baserunning and defensive value. He stole 29 bases in 32 attempts and the Yankees believe he’s a stellar glove in the infield, with the versatility to play the outfield as well.
He’ll play in the AFL again this year, but 2025 is all about staying healthy and hoping that he can win a job out of camp in Spring Training. Caleb Durbin is Rule-5 eligible this winter and the Yankees will have to determine if he’s going to be in play for a spot on the depth chart. Given Gleyber Torres’ impending free agency, there’s certainly a lane for him.
Breakout Player of the Year: Ben Shields LHP
An undrafted free agent out of George Mason, Ben Shields was 25 years old in his first season of professional ball, showing off an incredible ability to limit damage contact and miss some bats. He posted a 3.48 ERA and 3.23 FIP across three levels of Minor League Baseball, striking out over 31% of batters faced and flashing a strong pitch mix. He possesses a four-seamer, sinker, slider, and curveball that he can throw for strikes, and his lower slot release coupled with good extension allows these pitches to play up despite middling velocity.
The fastballs are between 92-94 MPH, with his sinker being a pitch he can force contact on the ground with and his four-seamer being a pitch he can climb the ladder with for whiffs. His slider and curveball move a ton and miss plenty of bats, allowing him to get both left-handed and right-handed batters out. While an unorthodox prospect due to his age, this was Ben Shields’ first year pitching at the professional level, and he was brilliant. Nobody knew who he was when the Yankees signed him, but he could be one of their most MLB-ready arms right now.
He looked outmatched in his first Triple-A outing, but in Double-A he fired 52 innings with a 3.12 ERA and 20% K-BB%, and I wonder if he can pitch his way into the bullpen or the backend of the rotation late in 2025 or early in 2026.
MiLB Affiliate of the Year: Hudson Valley Renegades
This was a tough award to pick because it’s hard to figure out how much the playoff rounds should factor into team evaluation. In Triple-A, the Scranton RailRiders scored the most runs in their history as the Yankees’ affiliate and finished just half a game out of the best record in both the International and Pacific Coast Leagues. Thanks to how wacky their playoff qualification rules are, Scranton ended up missing the playoffs, but they were arguably the best affiliate in the Yankees’ organization.
As for the Somerset Patriots, they made the Championship Series the same way the Hudson Valley Renegades did, but the tie-breaker for me was that Hudson Valley posted a better record and finished higher in the standings. A great team that just lost too many key pieces to finish the job in the Championship Series, they’ve become one of the top teams in all of High-A. Caleb Durbin was the only player on this list to not play in Hudson Valley this season, a sign that they were both talented and had a great developmental culture.
They had the best ERA in High-A (3.25) and the sixth-best OPS (.718), making them a well-balanced roster that played a winning style of baseball. It seems like it’s a matter of when, not if they’ll win a title as an affiliate for the Yankees’ organization, as all they’ve done is win consistently.