The New York Yankees are expected to transition multiple positions toward youth prospects in 2024. They started to elevate young players in hopes of finding production and upside toward the end of a lost 2023 season. They made significant moves that rewarded them with sample sizes for players like Jasson Dominguez and Austin Wells.
There was a lot to be desired with Everson Pereira, but he’s only 22 years old and has tremendous talent, not to mention Oswald Peraza, who could be taking over a starting infield job.
The Yankees Ignore the Upside of One Prospect
However, one of their prospects failed to make the transition to the majors, opting for free agency several weeks ago. 24-year-old infielder Andres Chaparro, who has incredible power with a maximum exit velocity of 114.2 mph, struggles with the lack of consistent contact.
Given his age and the fact he hadn’t been able to iron out some of his more prevalent deficiencies, the Yankees decided to go in a different direction and not sign him to a contract.
However, Chaparro landed with the Arizona Diamondbacks, via Jon Heyman of the NY Post, offering them a player who can play both third and first base. He’s coming off a season in Triple-A where he played 137 games, hitting .247 with a .331 OBP, including 25 homers, 89 RBIs, a 21.8% strikeout rate, a 10.8% walk rate, and 90 wRC+. He was 10% worse than the average Triple-A player, but the Diamondbacks may see an opportunity to help improve his contact hitting while maintaining his power, which is what makes him such an intriguing player.
In addition, he’s a competent defensive option at both corner infield spots. He allowed 13 errors over 585 innings this past season on the hot corner and three errors over 496.1 innings at first base. Having experience at multiple positions and generational power, Chaparro will finally get to test his qualities at the MLB level.