As the New York Yankees were playing the final game of their opening series of the 2021 season on Sunday, the Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre Railriders were playing the Lehigh Valley IronPigs as they begin to prepare for the upcoming season that begins on May 4.
Conor Foley of The Times-Tribune is providing great coverage of what is going on in Scranton Wilkes-Barre and he tweeted out what the roster for the alternate site looks like so far. While it is not a definite of who will begin the season in Triple-A, it is at least a decent indicator of what might happen:
Here’s the Yankees’ alternate site roster: pic.twitter.com/gblCjxg3bI
— Conor Foley (@RailRidersTT) April 4, 2021
The headline of the roster right now is Luis Gil. Gil, who was assigned to Double-A Somerset back in March, is on the Yankees 40-man roster. The right-hander had never pitched above high-A ball, but he did show some good things in major league spring training this season. An aggressive promotion to Triple-A should not be ruled out.
Gil is joined by Deivi Garcia, who started the exhibition game on Sunday. Outside of those two starters, there are plenty of relievers on the roster. Some of them are Top 30 prospects in the organization such as Glenn Otto and Albert Abreu.
It would make sense that more relievers would be at the alternate site to start off with than starters just in case the Yankees need to make a move to call up a reliever to the Bronx. Some possible call-ups down the road could include Brooks Kriske, Adam Warren, Kyle Barraclough, and Addison Russ.
In terms of position players, the headline prospect in that group is Estevan Florial. Florial got the chance to make his Major League debut during last year’s shortened season and he figures to headline the Triple-A outfield during the upcoming season.
Moving over to the infield, some intriguing names to keep a eye out there are first baseman Chris Gittens, who was one of the top home run hitters on the team in spring and shortstop Kyle Holder. Holder is back with the organization after the Cincinnati Reds, who took him in the Rule V Draft, returned him to the Yankees last week.
Behind the plate, all of the top Yankees prospects at the position are not at the alternate site as the three catchers there are Rob Brantly, Kellin Deglan, and Max McDowell. While those players can definitely help a pitching staff, they are not the top names in the organization most expected to see.
Doug Davis, who is the manager of Scranton Wilkes-Barre is leading the alternate site squad along with his pitching coach, Dustin Glant. Joe Migliacco, the hitting coach of Double-A Somerset, is the hitting coach for this month.
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