The New York Yankees finally engaged in some action on Tuesday afternoon, signing infielder Andrew Velasquez to a minor-league deal. The Bronx native is capable of playing shortstop, second base, and a little outfield. In the seventh round of the 2012 MLB June Amateur Draft, he was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks, coming out of Fordham prep high school.
Velasquez has spent the last three years bouncing around a few teams, including the Tampa Bay rays, Cleveland Indians, and Baltimore Orioles this past season. He played in 40 games for the Orioles in 2020, earning 63 at-bats and a .159 batting average. He has never hit a home run and has only recorded three RBIs over 96 total at-bats.
The signing is nothing to write home about, despite the fact that he is an above-average fielder, despite a small sample size. He didn’t allow an error over 30 games at shortstop in 2020 and was a perfect fielder. He seems to be a last resort option for the Yankees and possibly a player they want to develop in their farm system. He reminds me a bit of Gio Urshela and the quality he provides defensively, but as we know, Gio is a dime a dozen, and finding offensively capable players like that is extremely rare.