Yankees Release 10 MiLB Players

The 2018 season has begun for the Yankees short-season teams and with the influx of new players from the annual MLB Draft comes some releases.  Overall the New York Yankees have released 10 more players from their minor league contracts.

Among the players released was outfielder Leobaldo Cabrera who got into games as recent April 11 with the Tampa Tarpons of the Florida State League.  In two games in 2018, he had three hits in seven at-bats but overall slashed .251/.329/.310 in 144 career minor league games going back to 2015.

Pitcher Wandy Soto was also released, the 22-year-old right-hander had appeared in 20 games for the Yankees in the rookie leagues but never made it past the Gulf Coast League.  Overall he went 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA in 25 innings pitched over two seasons.

Catchers Ysaac Pena, David Vergel, Brayan Rodriguez, and Algeni Mateo were among those who were released.  Pena, 19 played in the Yankees organization for two seasons slashing .287/.330/.382 between the DSL and the GCL in 50 career games.  Vergel, 21, has played four seasons with the organization, most of his 109 career games coming in the DSL and he slashed .242/.374/.311 in 293 at-bats.  Rodriguez, 21, has not played since 2016 but in two seasons he slashed just .205/.248/.270.  Mateo, 22, never made his higher than the GCL and had not played since 2016.  In 113 career minor league games he hit .308/.367/.437.

Pitcher Yordy Nunez, 19, was a 2017 July 2 signee and never got a chance to play in the organization before being released.  Right-hander Jose Pujols was also released after going 1-2 with a 6.30 ERA in 14 games out of the bullpen for the Pulaski Yankees in 2017.  In 87 career minor league games he owned an 8-11 record with a 4.37 ERA and 145 strikeouts in 162 2/3 innings of work.

Finally, the last two minor leaguers that were released were outfielders Dario Unda and Erick Mendez.  Mendez, 22, reached as high as Rookie-level Pulaski in 2016 but after hitting just .119/.191/.119 in 14 games, he spent the 2017 season with the DSL Yankees where he appeared in only five games the whole season.  Unda, 22, played for Pulaski in 2017 and hit .314/.338/.500 in 21 games for the Rookie-level team.  Overall he played in the system four seasons, hitting .305/.374/.476 in 157 games and 538 at-bats.