News:
The Yankees have promoted RHP Yoendrys Gomez from Somerset to the big league roster. He is the first player to ever be promoted directly from Somerset to the big leagues. Keep in mind that Somerset didn’t become an MLB affiliate until 2021.
Gomez, who has been on the 40-man roster since 2020, has dealt with injuries in his career. He has logged only 275 innings since his debut season (2017), and this year’s 65.1 innings are his personal best. In those innings, he has a 3.58 ERA (3.83 FIP) with a 28.5% K and 13.5% BB.
According to Fangraphs, this is Gomez’s last option year. That said, we thought 2022 was Deivi Garcia‘s last option year – only to discover that MLB granted the Yankees an additional option for 2023. That isn’t done out of the goodness of their hearts – criteria need to be met and all that jazz.
If it is his final year, a big winter/spring is coming up. Let’s get this out of the way: Gomez is not going to be in the 2024 Opening Day rotation. Cross that thought out of your mind – if he isn’t traded, his best bet to make the squad in 2024 would be out of the bullpen. He has the stuff that would carry well in the bullpen. There are questions about whether he can handle a starter’s workload anyway.
The AFL rosters were announced today. The Yankees will be playing for Mesa but you aren’t going to see any of their top names playing. It is good to see that RHP Trystan Vrieling (#17 prospect according to Pipeline) will get some work in. He was drafted in 2022 but was unable to make his debut in 2023 due to injury.. The other players on the list aren’t going to jump out at you, though IF Caleb Durbin had a standout 2023 season that was marred by an injury. RHP Kevin Stevens got his feet wet in 2022 but didn’t appear in 2023. He was an undrafted free agent signing. UTIL Ben Cowles played mostly at Hudson Valley in 2023, promoted to Scranton after the Renegades were eliminated. While there isn’t much buzz around RHP Nolberto Henriquez, I checked out Savant after he was promoted to Tampa. He was throwing hard sinkers, which is something the current Yankees’ regime seems to like. It doesn’t shock me that they want to give him more innings after he tossed only 30.2 in 2023 with mixed results. OF Nelson Medina dealt with injuries for most of the season. He is getting some extra at-bats in Scranton as their season comes to a close – perhaps the promotions to Scranton should have hinted to us who was going to Arizona. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that Cowles and Medina were promoted and are now on their way to Arizona. RHP Baron Stuart was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Pitt. Unlike others on the list, he threw a good number of innings (100.2) in his debut professional season. I guess it is a good sign for him that they want him to throw more before he shuts down for the year.
Scranton (71-75; 37-35 in the second half) (Lost to Syracuse, 4-3, in ten innings). As for the last two games of the season, the weather up in Syracuse is actually not forecasted to be bad this weekend. There could be some rain on Sunday evening/night, but hopefully, it stays away during the afternoon.
C Carlos Narvaez: 0-for-4, BB, K
RF Franchy Cordero: 1-for-5, RS, K
3B Jamie Westbrook: 2-for-4, 2B (20), BB, 2 K
The minor league veteran reaches 20 doubles/20 home runs for the first time in his career.
DH Andres Chaparro: 1-for-5, 2B (24), RBI, 3 K
Chaparro is up to 88 RBI. The last Yankees’ prospect to reach 90 RBI was Peter O’Brien, who drove home 96 runs back in 2013. O’Brien would eventually play in 72 MLB games (most recently with the Marlins in 2019), hitting .209/.275/.434 with 11 home runs in 200 plate appearances.
1B Mike Lamb: 1-for-4, RS
SS Jesus Bastidas: 1-for-3, HR (12), 2 RBI, RS, BB, K
Bastidas’ 2023 numbers are pretty much right in line with his 2022 numbers. Between here and Somerset, he has 15 homers, 44 RBI, 64 runs, 40 walks, and 105 strikeouts in 445 plate appearances, Last year, playing only for Somerset, he hit .240/.323/.427 in 453 plate appearances (18 HR, 55 RBI, 56 R, 38 BB, 115 K, 11-for-18 SB)
LF Aaron Palensky: 0-for-4, 2 K
LF Ben Cowles: 0-for-0
I think Cowles was brought into the game in the 10th inning to give Scranton an extra infielder when the winning run was on third with nobody out.
2B Wilmer Difo: 0-for-4, 2 K
CF Nelson Medina: 2-for-4
Medina is 5-for-36 since his promotion. He started off 0-for-19, so it is nice to see him get some hits before the season comes to a close.
LHP Edgar Barclay: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 8 K
A solid final effort for Barclay, who is pitching to a 5.89 ERA in 44.1 IP since his promotion to Scranton. Prior to that, he compiled a 1.32 ERA in 34 IP for Somerset. All of his games (11) were relief appearances for Somerset, while his ten appearances for Scranton are all starts. He doesn’t throw hard (max fastball was 90.7 tonight, and he averaged 88.7), but he has solid secondary offerings that allow him to be a tantalizing MLB prospect. I don’t expect him to be a starter, but there is no harm in developing him as a Swiss-army knife type of pitcher.
LHP Matt Krook: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
LHP Josh Maciejewski: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
RHP Michael Gomez: (L, 2-6) 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Somerset (84-53; 42-27 in the second half)
They lost to Binghamton in the semi-finals. Their season is over.
Hudson Valley (70-62; 31-35 in the second half)
They lost to Greenville in the championship series. Their season is over.
Tampa (61-69; 30-34 in the second half)
Their season is over.
FCL Yankees (35-22; 1-2 in the playoffs)
They lost to the Braves in the championship series. Their season is over.
DSL Yankees (33-19)
Their season is over. They missed the playoffs by a half-game.
DSL Bombers (27-26)
Their season is over.