A few select Yankees prospects will contribute in the Bronx this season, with more on the way in coming years.
Prospects are the lifeblood of sustainable success in the major leagues. Fans and clubs alike take great pride in watching their homegrown prospects bloom into superstars on the big league stage. Here are six Yankee prospects to get excited about in 2023.
What list would be complete without Yankees top prospect, Anthony Volpe? Volpe was the Yankees first-round pick (30th) in the 2019 June Amateur Draft and over the past three years has become the crown jewel of the Yankees’ farm system. In 2021, Volpe played 109 games between low-A Tampa Tarpons and A+ Hudson Valley, posting a .294/.423/.604 triple slash with 27 home runs, 86 runs batted in, and 33 stolen bases. Volpe also drew 78 free passes and smacked 35 doubles, en route to a promotion to AA Somerset to begin his 2022 campaign.
After a slow start to 2022, Volpe turned up the heat in the second half, powering his way to a solid .249/.342/.539 with 21 home runs, 65 runs batted in, and 50 stolen bases between AA and AAA. Given MLB’s rule changes coming rule changes in 2023 combined with his already elite power and base stealing ability, Volpe appears poised to be a serious 30/30 threat upon his promotion to MLB. Entering 2023, Anthony Volpe finds himself as MLB’s #5 prospect in all of baseball and in the thick of a position battle for starting shortstop for the big league club. Regardless of whether he breaks camp with the team, Volpe remains a favorite to see the field in 2023.
Jasson Dominguez – Yankees #2 Prospect
Jasson Dominguez has been making headlines since he was signed out of the Dominican Republic for $5.1 MM as a 16-year-old back in 2019. Scouts lauded the young switch hitter as a Mickey Mantle type for his five-tool skillset: elite exit velocity, speed, plus glove, rocket arm, and ability to hit for a high average. It wasn’t long before his out-of-this-world talent and exceedingly young age landed the young phenom his first nickname: “The Martian”.
A global pandemic stole away the first minor league season from Dominguez, who did not make his first professional appearance until 2021. Once there, the Martian failed to blast off as many anticipated he would, slashing a mediocre .252/.353/.379 with five home runs and 19 runs batted in across 57 games between rookie ball and low-A Tampa. It took until 2022 for the Martian to hit his stride, when he exploded through the minor leagues, graduating from low-A Tampa to AA Somerset as a 19-year-old. In 2022 Dominguez posted a .273/.376/.461 triple slash with 16 home runs, 59 runs batted in, and 37 stolen bases in 120 games across three levels of the minors.
Now 19, Dominguez sits just two levels away from the big league club and has improved his performance at each level of the minor leagues. Unless someone tells this kid baseball shouldn’t be this easy, Jasson Dominguez is major league-bound by Opening Day 2024. Barring an incendiary demolition of AA and AAA, I wouldn’t count on a Dominguez appearance in 2023.
Austin Wells – Yankees #4 Prospect
Austin Wells was drafted by the Yankees in the 35th round of the 2018 June Amateur Draft out of Bishop Gorman HS. Wells declined to sign with the club, instead choosing to go to the University of Arizona and try to improve his draft stock. In 71 games at the college level, the catcher scorched a .357/.476/.560 triple slash, belting 7 home runs and 74 runs batted in. An outstanding performance in college was enough to convince the Yankees to draft him once more, this time in the first round of the 2020 June Amateur Draft.
Wells’ bat has never been in question. In A+, Wells has managed a .323/.429/.576 through 28 games to a quick promotion to AA where he’ll likely begin the 2023 campaign. There have been questions around Well’s future as a catcher, and some worry his sub-par glove might have him see more time at first base rather than behind a plate. Wells is close enough that a debut in 2023 is far from unlikely and he may get time in the second half to split playing time between catching trio Rortvedt, Higashioka, and Trevino.
Everson Pereira – Yankees #5 Prospect
Despite being ranked fifth of all Yankees prospects, Everson Pereira is perhaps the most undervalued prospect in the Yankees system. Signed at 16 years old out of Venezuela in 2017, Pereira was the youngest player in rookie ball but was limited by injury which kept him out through 2019. 2020 was lost to the pandemic, further limiting Pereira’s progression. 2021 was the first time Pereira was able to get consistent work in without injury, and immediately he began terrorizing minor league pitching. In 2021 Periera posted a .303/.398/.686 line and belted 20 homers with 57 runs batted through 50 games across three levels of the minor leagues.
2022 was more of the same for Pereira, who finished the year with AA Somerset where he hit .283/.341/.504 in 29 games. Heading into 2023, Pereira needs to smash his way to AAA to stay a step ahead of Jasson Dominguez as the race to the big leagues rages on between the two Somerset teammates. MLB.com has Pereira’s ETA at 2023, but don’t be surprised when the youngster spends most of the season between AA and AAA, though a move at the deadline to remove Aaron Hicks might create just enough space for Periera to break through to the big league club. Remember the name Everson Pereira.
Spencer Jones – Yankees #7 Prospect
Spencer Jones is maybe the most exciting Yankees prospect currently in the minor leagues. I say that with full knowledge of Anthony Volpe and Jasson Dominguez, whom I detailed above. The 6 foot 7 left handed hitter has already drawn comparisons to Yanks slugger Aaron Judge.
Spencer Jones was the Yankees first-round draft pick out of Vanderbilt in the 2022 June Amateur Draft. Spencer Jones was red hot coming out of Vanderbilt, slashing .370/.460/.644 in his 61-game junior season in which he hit 12 home runs and drove in 60 runs. His red-hot bat carried over and then some into the minors where, in 25 games, Jones destroyed the competition to a tune of a .344/.425/.538 triple slash. Jones could start 2023 at either low-A Tampa where he finished the year or A+ Hudson Valley but at this rate, Jones looks like a 2024 debut and a potentially epic position battle is brewing for next year’s Spring Training between himself, Everson Periera, Jasson Dominguez, and Aaron Hicks for the starting job in left field.
Top international prospects like Roderick Arias and Jasson Dominguez attract headlines and create bidding wars amongst big league clubs who dish out huge price tags for young foreign talent. The cream of the crop get all the attention and the rest of the prospects shuffle into the minor leagues. One such looked-over prospect is Keiner Delgado.
Signed as a 16-year-old in 2021, Delgado made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer league as an 18-year-old in 2022. Despite his small frame, the 5’8″, 145 lb switch hitter set the Dominican League on fire, slashing .310/.504/.506 in 52 games. In those 52 games, Delgado stroked 16 doubles, 4 triples, swiped 34 bags, scored 50 runs and walked 58 times, striking out just 28 times.
Delgado is able to make waves without a power stroke – elite bat-to-ball skills and a fantastic eye allow Delgado to walk more than twice as often as he struck out, more than once per game played. He is also able to drive the ball to the gaps, good for 20 extra base hits, four of which were triples. His counting stats and rate stats are both very impressive for such a small sample size, and his elite skillset and lack of reliance on home runs for offensive production makes him very projectable. Keiner Delgado has a few years before he gets the call to the big league club, but his ascension through the minor leagues will sure be a fun one to watch.
