The Yankees announced their break camp rosters for Single-A Tampa, High-A Hudson Valley, and Double-A Somerset on Sunday via the @NYYPlayerDev Twitter account. There were some much deserved promotions and some surprises as well. This is in addition to the number of coaching and managerial changes throughout the system, as we had previously written here.
The defending Eastern League Champions, the Somerset Patriots, will once again be a team to watch this season for many of the top prospects starting here. The Patriots will debut a new manager in Raul Dominguez. This will be the 17th season with the Yankees for Dominguez, who spent the previous two seasons with the AAA Scranton team as defensive coach. This will be his first time in a full-season managerial position after spending 8 years managing the GCL/DSL affiliates.
Somerset Patriots
2023 Somerset Patriots break camp roster
Starting with the Double A Team, the Somerset Patriots are headed by mega prospect Jasson Dominguez’s return. Jasson left an indelible impression after a monster performance in the Eastern League Championship series last season where he hit .450, 3 HR and 10 RBI. The Martian gave the Yankees another preview of his evolution by lighting up Spring Training and earning the Kevin Lawn award as the best minor league position player, along with Will Warren, who was named as the best minor league pitcher.
Everson Pereira also returns, and the thought of him with a full healthy season under his belt has many in the prospect industry predicting a breakout campaign. Brandon Lockridge and Jeisson Rosario who helped the Patriots to a championship return as well.
Trey Sweeney comes off a solid Spring Training (.333/.500 with 1.278 OPS, 2 extra base hits) and returns to Somerset with big shoes to fill. It’ll be interesting to see if Sweeney gets any reps at 3B where the Yankees will have a need and would be his quickest path to The Bronx. Tyler Hardman played four games at Somerset last season and returns as a Top 30 prospect now. Hardman hit 22 homers last season, leading all Yankees prospects in homers. He followed that up with a MVP-like performance in the Arizona Fall League where he slashed .325/.374/.662 with 6 HR and 15 RBI.
Currently the catching squad will be made up of Anthony Seigler, Carlos Narvaez and Juan Crisp. Seigler is most likely the starter after putting together his first solid season after years of injuries. Narvaez opened some eyes this Spring Training for his defense. Juan Crisp will likely be a bullpen catcher after only playing in 1 game with the Tarpons last season. Austin Wells begins the season nursing an injury. No timetable or news on his return.
The Somerset rotation has a few big names such as Will Warren and Clayton Beeter. Although we’ve seen Will Warren pushed hard by the organization, he’s responded at every level. Beeter has surprised many, after coming over in the Joey Gallo trade from the Dodgers organization. The Yankees let Beeter be himself and he rewarded them by pitching to a 2.13 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and racking up 41 strikeouts in 25+ innings. Beeter could be someone that moves up quickly to help the Yankees at some point this season.
Richard Fitts joins them after earning a promoting to Hudson Valley and completely dominating there. Fitts went 4-0, pitching to a minuscule 0.55 ERA and 0.61 WHIP while giving up just 3 Walks in 33 innings with 38 Ks. Blas Castano, who led the SAL in ERA with 3.49 and Blane Abeyta have also been promoted. Outside of the rotation, Lisandro Santos, who was recently signed as a free agent in the offseason, comes off an impressive showing in Spring Training, throwing a 0.00 ERA in 5.2 IP. Indigo Diaz who was traded for, returns after an impressive stint in the World Baseball Classic, representing Canada.
Hudson Valley
2023 Hudson Valley Renegades break camp roster
Over at Hudson Valley, Spencer Jones is the headline prospect. It’s quite a surprise to see him begin the season here after less than 100 at bats at Low A. Jones has risen quickly through the system since joining the Yankees and it shouldn’t be a surprise if he’s in AA at some point this season. Aldenis Sanchez and Anthony Garcia have also been promoted and will join him in the outfield. Garcia seems to have been moved from 1B and back to the outfield. After a tough season, it will be interesting to see if Garcia can return to his 2021 form. Kyle Battle returns to the Renegades. Battle played in 8 games for Hudson Valley and slashed .327/.387 with .851 OPS last season.
Alexander Vargas and Marcos Cabrera will now comprise the left side of the HV infield. Vargas spent the offseason adding muscle. He’s looking to bounce back from a season where he hit .203 and committed 20 errors and regain his Top 30 prospect status. Cabrera and Anthony Garcia both led the Tarpons with 14 homers in 2022. After playing 23 games at HV, Ben Cowles is back to start the year here. Cowles had his best season yet in 2022 slashing .272/.375 with .802 OPS, 12 extra base hits and 14 stolen bases.
The Yankees’ best defensive catcher, Antonio Gomez, struggled at the onset of the ’22 season and was demoted. He returned in late June and ended July slashing .316/.333/.526. Gomez finished the season strong and managed to hit over .303 during the final 3 months. He now heads to the S.A.L. League to cement his status as a top catching prospect. UDFA Rafael Flores joined the FCL party late but impressed the Yankees hitting 429/.429/.929 – 3 XBH – 2 HR, and he’ll skip Single-A.
The Rotation will be headed by Drew Thorpe, Juan Carela, Tyrone Yulie, Zach Messinger and Joel Valdez. Drew Thorpe was the Yankees 2nd round selection in the 2022 MLB draft and comes into the season with lofty expectations. Juan Carela returns after struggling here last season. Carela has a live arm capable of piling up strikeouts and it’ll be interesting to see if he’s able to harness his raw talent to excel at this level.
The bullpen has the potential to be really good and could rack up a lot of strikeouts with Trevor Holloway (2.41 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 52 IP, 52 Ks), Carlos Gomez (2.84 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 66.2 IP, 78 Ks), Bailey Dees (3.30 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 57.1 IP, 70Ks), Jack Neely (3.58 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 50.1 IP, 87 Ks)
Tampa Tarpons
2023 Tampa Tarpons break camp roster
Rachel Balkovec’s Tampa Tarpons roster is filled with many Yankee prospects graduating from the Rookie League.
The Tarpons outfield will consist of Tayler Aguilar, Daury Arias, Nelson Medina, Alan Mejia, Felix Negueis and Raimfer Salinas, who is now the veteran of the group. Tayler Aguilar will probably garner the most attention of the bunch. He brings a powerful left-handed bat that swatted 23 HRs in his final 2023 collegiate season. Felix Negueis is coming off an outstanding season at the FCL; he hit .287/388 with .962 OPS and 19 extra base hits. Nelson Medina is also promoted after slashing .311/.426 with 7 extra base hits in the Rookie League.
Jared Serna returns to Tampa after a brief appearance last season. The second baseman played like an MVP in the FCL last season, especially during the first half. He finished .302/.438 with .965 OPS and 16 extra base hits including 6 HRs. His double-play partner Dayro Perez will join him. Perez slashed .250/.389 with .764 OPS and was the FCL Yankees SB leader with 16.
Agustin Ramirez is coming off a monster FCL Season where he slashed .304/.386 with .892 OPS, slugged 21 extra base hits including 6 HRs and a whopping 51 RBIs that led the league. His FCL backup Omar Martinez also earned a promotion. Joining them is Jesus Rodriguez who was one of the FCL’s best hitters slashing .320/.413 with 1.010 OPS and 18 extra base hits. Rodriguez most likely plays 1B in Tampa where he is able to keep his bat in the lineup.
This Tarpons rotation will be headed by a couple of the Yankees top pitching prospects in Sean Hermann and Brock Selvidge. Sean Hermann had an excellent debut last season going 2-0 with 2.52 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and striking out 57 in 53.2 Innings. Brock Selvidge was just as solid in the FCL, going 3-1 with a 2.95 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and struck out 53 in 42.2 Innings.
Yorlin Calderon returns to Tampa. Some might recall that he came up last season for a spot start and went on to throw a 7 inning no-no.
🚨NO NO ALERT🚨
RHP Yorlin Calderon gets called up to Tampa and makes quite the first impression in his first start of the season!
Calderon blanked the Lakeland Flying Tigers with a complete game no-hitter.
His final line: 7.0IP, 7K, 2BB, 0H pic.twitter.com/nVD8C9Ixvj
— Tampa Tarpons (@TampaTarpons) May 26, 2022
Calderon pitched 4 games for Tampa last season, to a 2.84 ERA with a 1.11 WHIP. In the bullpen, Luis Velasquez is certainly an arm to watch as he was a key part of the FCL Championship team. Velasquez went 2-0, with 1.76 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and struck out 22 in 15.1 Innings.
As John Brophy tweeted earlier, there are names missing like Luis Serna, Carson Coleman, Austin Wells, Yoendrys Gomez, Anthony Hall, Madison Santos, Ryder Green and others. The Yankees Player Development team will most likely provide more information in the coming days.
The Somerset Patriots season opens on April 6th.
The Hudson Valley Renegades and Tampa Tarpons season begins on April 7th.
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