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Yankees News and Rumors
·2 min read

Yankees announce Spring Training invites

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Ah, the sweetest sounding baseball phrase on a cold winter’s day: Pitchers and catchers report. As Spring Training kicks off, we get to look at the new batch of invites for the New York Yankees. This time around the Yankees have quite the depth chat for their pitching and hitting, and it’s going to be a fierce battle to see who gets to make the roster. There will be guys like DJ LeMahieu, Aaron Judge, and Gerrit Cole who all are locks, but there can certainly be surprises who come in and get jobs on the MLB roster. There’s a ton of talent, depth, and familiar names on the invites, and there could be some real gems in there.

Notable Additions To Spring Training

The Yankees brought in some solid pitching depth, but obviously, not all of them will make the roster. Adam Warren, Tyler Lyons, Nick Goody, and Nestor Cortes reunite with the Yankees, as they hope to don pinstripes again in the regular season. Kyle Barraclough and Luis Garcia serve as veteran arms who can maybe crack the bullpen, while Asher Wojciechowski serves to be a tongue-twister for Yankee announcers and a potential arm for the bullpen if he can hone his slider. They’ve certainly bolstered their pitching depth and will have to depart with multiple MLB-caliber arms, which is a good problem to have.

On the offensive side of the ball, lefty power was addressed with veteran OF Jay Bruce, who hopes to get a roster spot as he fights with Mike Ford as the team’s main power left-handed bat. For the infield, the Yankees have brought in the swagger-filled Derek Dietrich, whose bat is as notable as his vibrant personality. With a 108 wRC+ from the left-hand side, he certainly provides some pop off the bench and he’s able to play nearly every position on the field besides shortstop, catcher, and centerfield. He’s a diamond in the rough and could try to make the final infield spot on the roster.

Yankee Prospects Join Camp as Spring Training Invites

The Yankees brought up some notable youngsters from their farm system to get reps. Notable infield prospect Ezequiel Duran got the call alongside young promising backstops Anthony Siegler Josh Breaux and Austin Wells. None of these guys are projected to make the final cut, but it’s definitely exciting to see them in action. The Yankees are definitely growing a very fruitful farm system, one they can use to acquire assets at the deadline or use to bolster their own squad. The organization is definitely excited to see Deivi Garcia and Clarke Schmidt fully graduate into Major Leaguers, and hopefully one of these youngsters make some sort of impact down the line.

Breakout Candidates To Watch

LHP Trevor Lane and RHP Addison Russ are both young budding relievers in the Yankee organization that could get the call if they perform in February and March. I really do think Addison Russ is a really good arm, and that he can make a major impact in 2021, as he was highly regarded as a reliever when in Philadelphia. As previously mentioned with Derek Dietrich, his bat is surely very enticing. His extremely solid xwOBA of .356 in his last two seasons and his defensive versatility can certainly be valuable. Robinson Chirinos also has a very competent bat who had a poor 2020, and his ability to absolutely demolish LHP as he has a 140 wRC+ since 2017 against LHP.

There is certainly talent on this list of Spring Training invites for the Yankees, it’s just a matter of who impresses. It’s time to gear up for Spring Training, as we count down the days until Opening Day