2021 New York Yankees Midseason Top 30 Prospects Update

On the heels of tonight’s reported Joey Gallo trade to New York, here’s our Midseason Yankees Top 30, which was set to be published later this week. 

Find scouting reports for every top-10 prospect plus new risers below. 

1. Jasson Dominguez, OF
Age: 18. Team: Low-A Tampa

The extremely tooled-up Dominguez made history by becoming the youngest player to appear in a Futures Game, at just 18 years old. He’s got plenty of raw materials. Now, he needs as many reps as possible to make up for lost time turning those tools into skills. So far, the returns in Low-A have been excellent.

2. Anthony Volpe, SS
Age: 20. Team: High-A Hudson Valley

One of the biggest risers in the Yankees’ system, Volpe has drawn raves from evaluators for his polished package of skills, performance and makeup during his first full season as a pro. Considering he spent 2019 recovering from a bout of mononucleosis, this season is perhaps the clearest picture of Volpe’s talent since he was drafted.

3. Oswald Peraza, SS
Age: 21. Team: Double-A Somerset

One of the best in the Yankees’ suddenly-bursting pack of middle infielders, Peraza has always made plenty of hard contact. Now he’s gotten the ball in the air more often, and the results point toward a player capable of impact on both sides of the ball.

4. Luis Gil, RHP
Age: 23. Team: Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre

Gil aced his first test at the upper levels by pushing his way out of Double-A after just 30.2 innings. He pitched through a little bit of a sore neck and now is working on adding more polish, specifically when it comes to getting ahead in counts and refining his changeup.

5. Luis Medina, RHP
Age: 22. Team: Double-A Somerset

As ever, Medina brings explosive stuff—including a fastball that has touched 102 mph this season—but still needs to refine his command and control to truly get the most out of his stuff. Medina has strong reliever risk, but there are external evaluators who still believe he has a chance to start.

6. Trey Sweeney, SS
Age: 21. Team: TBA

NEW The Yankees’ first-round pick in the 2021 draft feasted on the competition with Eastern Illinois, where he showed strong bat-to-ball skills and knowledge of the strike zone. He had nearly twice as many walks as strikeouts in his draft season. He’s made enough improvements at shortstop to have a chance to stick there as a fringe-average defender.

7. Deivi Garcia, RHP
Age: 22. Team: Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre

Garcia’s star has dimmed this year with underperformance in terms of both command and pure stuff. There are enough flashes, however, to make evaluators believe his former self could return with the right alterations.

8. Clarke Schmidt, RHP
Age: 25. Team: IL

Schmidt strained his elbow in the early days of spring training and had not pitched all season until a recent rehab outing in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League. He showed enough promise in 2019 and 2020, however, to warrant a longer leash once he returns to action.

9. Yoendrys Gomez, RHP
Age: 21. Team: Low-A Tampa

Gomez dealt with a shoulder injury which delayed the beginning to his season, but he still holds some of the largest upside among the system’s pitching prospects. He’s added a slider to his arsenal and tweaked the shape of his fastball to add more riding life. Gomez was placed on the Covid-19 IL this week.

10. Austin Wells, C

Prospects 11-30

11. Brock Selvidge, LHP

NEW Selvidge had a rough senior season at Hamilton (Ariz.) HS, where his stuff and control took steps backward. The Yankees bet $1.5 million—more than double Selvidge’s recommended slot in the third round—that he can regain the 90-95 mph fastball and projectable slider and changeup he’d shown in prior seasons.

12. Brendan Beck, RHP

NEW Beck was the Yankees’ second-round pick in 2021, out of Stanford, where he won the Pacific-12 Conference’s Pitcher of the Year honors. Nothing in his arsenal projects as plus, but his fastball, changeup and control could each be above-average.

13. Estevan Florial, OF

14. Hayden Wesneski, RHP

NEW Wesneski has been one of the Yankees’ better pitching stories this season. Scouts raved about what they saw from him in High-A, including a five-pitch mix of sinker, cutter, four-seamer, slider and changeup. The cutter is the newest part of his arsenal, installed to provide him with answers for righties and lefties.

15. Ken Waldichuk, LHP

NEW Waldichuk has a delivery funkier than George Clinton in his heyday, and his stuff is good enough to have thoroughly baffled hitters at High-A. His fastball has the vaunted “invisiball” properties, which has allowed him to get loads of swings and misses. He pairs the fastball with both a slider and slurve, as well as a changeup scouts project to be at least above-average.

16. Oswaldo Cabrera, SS

NEW Cabrera emerged from the shutdown a much stronger player, and the results have shown on the field since minor league spring training. His 12 homers so far this season are four more than his previous season-high, and he continues to show the versatility to play around the infield.

17. Beck Way, RHP

18. Everson Pereira, OF

19. Alexander Vargas, SS

20. Hans Montero, SS

21. Nick Nelson, RHP

22. Albert Abreu, RHP

23. T.J. Sikkema, LHP

24. Donny Sands, C

NEW After being exposed during the most recent Rule 5 draft, Sands has come back new man. He’s posted the best offensive season of his career, mostly at Double-A Somerset, and has stuck himself firmly in the Yankees’ catching mix.

25. Randy Vasquez, RHP

NEW Signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2018, Vasquez has made a name for himself this year. The righthander, who was nearly dealt to the Rangers in the Joey Gallo deal, pounds the zone with two- and four-seam fastballs in the mid 90s as well as a curveball which regularly generated spin rates well better than 3,000 rpms. He still needs to sharpen his command and control, but he has a pair of potentially plus weapons already. 

26. Raimfer Salinas, OF

27. Stephen Ridings, RHP

NEW Ridings’ story was incredible even before he made his big league debut. He was drafted by the Cubs in 2016, then traded in 2018 to the Royals, who released him in 2020. The Yankees signed him in 2021 and saw him gain a huge amount of velocity after an offseason of work with Eric Cressey. He now regularly parks his fastball in the upper 90s and touches triple-digits regularly. His breaking ball has gotten better, too, to the point where it is fringe-average. 

28. Greg Weissert, RHP

NEW Armed with arguably the best slider in the system, Weissert, a 2016 selection out of Fordham, has carved hitters at the upper levels. The slider is a nasty offering which averages around 81 mph and is thrown roughly half of the time. The Yankees have worked with him to add more sink to his low-90s fastball, too. 

29. Josh Breaux, C

NEW The Yankees selected Breaux in the second round of the 2018 draft out of McLennan (Texas) JC. Before this season, scouts had panned his all-or-nothing approach, and injuries limited him to just 51 games in 2019. There were more approach questions when this season opened, but as the year has worn on and some of the rust has kicked off, more of his signature power has shown up. 

30. Tyrone Yulie, RHP

NEW The large-framed righthander has generated some buzz this season in Florida at the Rookie-level Florida Complex League and the Low-A Southeast League for his big-time fastball, which is already touching 100 mph. He pairs the fastball with a sweeping slider, and the Yankees have been impressed with his makeup and maturation over the past year.

Rising

Infielder Oswaldo Cabrera impressed evaluators in spring training with his strength gains, which have translated to a dynamic first look at the upper levels. 

RHP Hayden Wesneski, the Yankees’ sixth-rounder in 2019 out of Sam Houston State, has shown a powerful mix of five pitches, fronted by a mid-90s fastball which has topped out at 99 mph. The newest part of Wesneski’s repertoire is a cutter, installed to give him another pitch that works in the opposite direction of his two-seamer.

Lefty Ken Waldichuk thoroughly baffled hitters at High-A with a combination of stuff and a very funky delivery. His fastball sits in the lower 90s and has peaked at 98, and his breaking stuff has given him swing-and-miss weapons to righties and lefties. The next step will be honing his command to adjust to the better strike zones at the upper levels.

Catcher Donny Sands is among the group of players who have revived their career coming out of the pandemic. Scouts see a bit of an ambush hitter, but he still needs to tighten up his command of the strike zone. Nonetheless, the progress is encouraging. 

Falling

RHP Deivi Garcia — Garcia’s command and control have slipped at Triple-A, and scouts have noticed a lack of crispness in his stuff overall. Some have speculated that changes to his delivery and the move to a slider-heavy approach has had a negative effect.

C Anthony Seigler — A first-round pick from 2018, Seigler has been bitten by injuries and lack of performance during his time in pro ball. He shows little with the bat and his defense isn’t overwhelming enough to make up for those shortcomings. 

Graduated

RHP Michael King has settled in as a swingman and sometime starter in the big leagues. Notably, both his four- and two-seam fastballs have seen significant jumps in velocity.

Hurting

RHP Clarke Schmidt has missed the entire season to this point while recovering from a strained flexor tendon in his right elbow suffered extremely early in spring training. 

RHP Alexander Vizcaino missed all of the first half with a right shoulder impingement; he began rehab appearances in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League in mid-July. 

RHP T.J. Sikkema has dealt with a shoulder injury that has kept him out all season but was expected to start throwing again soon.