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The Yankees’ farm system is deeper than you’d expect from an organization that traded away more than a dozen prospects at the 2025 Trade Deadline. They replenished some talent via the MLB Draft—including Dax Kilby, who has all the makings of a top prospect and looks like an absolute steal with the 29th pick—but the story of the season was the ascension of a trio of pitching prospects who look ready to make their big-league debuts in 2026. Although the Bombers have more than a few exciting players on the verge of the Bronx, there are prospects to be excited about all throughout the system.
Today, we’ll discuss a wide batch of Baby Bombers who I’ll be watching heading into the 2026 campaign. I’ve chosen to step away from Pinstripe Alley, and since this will be my last article, there’s no time like the present to run through ’em. Thank you to everyone who has read and enjoyed my work since I came aboard!
Knocking at the door: Spencer Jones, Elmer Rodríguez, Carlos Lagrange, Ben Hess, Cade Winquest
The aforementioned trio of ascending pitchers are all listed here, as Elmer Rodríguez, Carlos Lagrange, and Ben Hess all have the makings of successful starting pitchers at the big league level. Following a December 2024 trade from the Red Sox system in exchange for catcher Carlos Narváez, Rodríguez established himself as a Top 100 prospect with New York in wake of a breakout 2025 which began in High-A Hudson Valley and ended with the 22-year-old making his Triple-A debut. Rodríguez recorded a 2.26 ERA in 83 innings in High-A with a 29-percent strikeout rate, and was just as good in Double-A with a 2.64 ERA in 61 innings. He’s made significant progress since the Yankees acquired him from the Red Sox last offseason, and he made his spring training debut this week in the opener against Baltimore.
Speaking of spring buzz, Lagrange put his jaw-dropping stuff on display in the second game just days after making waves by striking out Aaron Judge in practice while hitting 102 MPH on the radar gun. Lagrange struggled mightily with control at the start of his career, and despite a breakout 2025, this was still the obvious flaw in his profile. A 7.1-percent walk rate in High-A ballooned to 14.9 percent in Double-A. However, a 33.4-percent strikeout rate across the two levels was enough to offset the walks. There is bullpen risk for Lagrange, but the team should do everything they can to get him into the starting rotation. Just ask Judge, who said “He’s got the potential to be a frontline starter for the New York Yankees.”
Hess was selected out of Alabama in the first round of the 2024 draft, and his first professional season went a long way towards proving the Yankees right about his upside. Hess anchors his arsenal with a lively fastball that sits in the mid-to-high 90s and plays up due to his IVB (induced vertical break), delivery, and extension. He complements it with a curveball, slider, and changeup. The curveball looked especially dominant in his spring debut this week, in which he notched five strikeouts against the Pirates.
There is no prospect more polarizing in the Yankees system or perhaps all of professional baseball than Spencer Jones. Jones started last season repeating Double-A after a disappointing 2024 halted his progress and looked ominous for his career. 2025 was a different story. Jones clobbered 16 home runs with Somerset, just one below last year’s season total in 336 trips to the plate. His walk rate jumped from 9.9 percent to 15.4 percent, his ISO went from .193 to .320, and his wRC+ ballooned to 184. In his first 114 PA after a promotion to Triple-A, Jones was hitting .375/.439/.844 with 13 home runs, 10 steals, a 219 wRC+, and just a 24-percent strikeout rate, before regressing in the season’s final weeks (possibly due to a lingering back injury). His spring thus far has been indicative of his all-or-nothing profile: in six plate appearances he has four strikeouts, a walk, and a home run that looked like it traveled 600 feet. If Jones manages to get to even a mildly subpar contact rate, he could be dangerous.
Cade Winquest was the Yankees’ first Rule 5 draft pick in many years, and it’s highly possible that he starts the 2026 regular season in the big-league bullpen. He flashed big time velocity and a devastating changeup in his spring debut. He could quietly be a pivotal addition during an offseason in which it seemed like the Yankees didn’t do much to improve their relief corps.
Stud shortstops: George Lombard Jr. and Dax Kilby
The consensus top prospect in the organization is George Lombard Jr., and while we need to see a larger sample size from Dax Kilby, it’s well within the range of possibility that he challenges Lombard for the crown by the end of 2026 (some outlets, like Baseball Prospectus, already have Kilby ahead). There are tons of similarities here, as Kilby seems to be following Lombard’s trajectory closely. Lombard was the team’s first-round draft pick in 2023 with the 26th pick, and Kilby went 39th last season due to the Yankees’ pick dropping 10 spots for luxury tax purposes. These appear to be the two best picks the team has made in recent years.
Lombard has proved himself at every level thus far and projects as a starting big-league shortstop. He started last season in High-A and made mincemeat of the level, posting a 194 wRC+ in 24 games before earning a promotion. Lombard struggled against Double-A pitching to start, but acclimated to the new environment over time and finished with respectable numbers, including 8 home runs, 24 steals, a 13.6-percent walk rate, and a 111 wRC+. Scouts still want to see a little more with the bat, but the still-20-year-old Lombard is right on schedule and could earn the starting shortstop job in the Bronx as early as 2027 if Anthony Volpe continues to squander his chances.
Kilby was sent directly to Low-A to start his career, and in his first 81 plate appearances he slashed .353/.457/.441 with 13 walks, 11 strikeouts, two doubles, two triples, and a 159 wRC+. Kilby posting these numbers just after he was drafted is an incredibly exciting development for the Yankees., and several front offices reportedly had near-instant regret for not taking the teenager more seriously as a draft prospect. If Kilby can access his raw power and drive some balls out of the park, he could prove himself as one of the most exciting prospects in the Yankees organization and all around baseball.
Post-injury bouncebacks?: Bryce Cunningham, Chase Hampton, Thatcher Hurd, Henry Lalane
These pitchers’ stocks suffered due to injury, but are seeking redemption with a healthy 2026. Bryce Cunningham started last season (his first full year as a pro) as part of a well-regarded quartet with the ascending Rodriguez, Lagrange, and Hess, but missed two months of the year, struggled upon return, and experienced the nadir of his young career in the Arizona Fall League with a 10.38 ERA in 13 painful innings. Even if he was working on some specific pitches, that’s not a number you want to read.
Once the most highly-regarded pitcher in the Yankees’ farm system, Chase Hampton underwent Tommy John surgery and missed the entire 2025 campaign. Hampton possesses the arsenal and command of a big-league starter and will look to bounce back in 2026. His stuff was at its peak in 2023 which is now in the distant past, though New York still felt good enough about him to protect him on the 40-man roster in November. Next season will be a crucial plot point in Hampton’s career. The same goes for Thatcher Hurd, who was selected in the third round of the 2024 MLB Draft but has yet to make his professional debut due to undergoing a Tommy John surgery of his own before the 2025 season.
Henry Lalane is an interesting case, as far more hype has been driven by the frame and upside the 6-foot-7 lefty brings to the table than by his actual performance. Lalane entered last season with excitement building around his name after posting a 34.1 K-BB% in a small sample at the Complex in 2023, but then pitched just 12 innings all 2024. Last year, he made six starts with Low-A Tampa with 16.1 IP, 1.65 ERA (5.01 FIP), 27.4 K%, 17.8 BB%, .179 BAA, 1.41 WHIP. For those who did glimpse him, the stuff wasn’t crackling quite the same.
Other intriguing arms: Kyle Carr, Cade Smith, Brock Selvidge, Xavier Rivas
One of the best seasonal stat lines within the organization belonged to the left-hander Kyle Carr. He doesn’t possess the overwhelming stuff or K-BB% numbers typically found in top pitching prospects, but 2025 provided a large enough sample to prove that what Carr is doing is working to his advantage. He dominated High-A with a 1.96 ERA in 22 starts, but ended the season with three starts in Double-A in which he posted an 8.56 ERA.
Cade Smith’s performance down the stretch for High-A Hudson Valley and in the Arizona Fall League should catch the organization’s eye. Smith has a strong ability to miss bats but struggles at times with walks. In 32.2 innings with the Renegades, he struck out 26 percent of the batters he faced but also walked 12 percent of them and recorded a 2.76 ERA. He controlled his pitches more effectively in Arizona, where he pitched 12.2 innings and struck out 14 batters while only walking two on his way to an AFL Fall Stars Game appearance. Smith has momentum and the talent to capitalize on it in 2026.
Brock Selvidge and Xavier Rivas are two southpaws looking to make a name for themselves in 2026. Selvidge was unprotected in the Rule 5 Draft this offseason, but remained with the Yankees and struck out four in his spring training debut this week. He flashed a horizontal left-handed arsenal with a cutter, a slider, and a four-seamer that hit up to 97 MPH. The 23-year-old Rivas started last season in the Complex League and finished at High-A, with astronomical strikeout and walk rates on the season (31.3/13.9 K/BB%). It was a year of non-linear development for Rivas, who struggled mightily in Low-A with a 5.80 ERA in 40 innings in between posting ERAs of 1.15 in the Complex league and 1.23 in Low-A.
Other 2025 draftees: Kaeden Kent, Pico Kohn, Core Jackson
Kaeden Kent, the Yankees’ third-round pick, has a smooth swing from the left side, strong barrel control, and a patient approach at the plate. The now-Hall of Fame progeny slashed .279/.398/.544 during his season in the SEC, tallying 56 games with 13 doubles, 13 home runs, and more walks than strikeouts. He struggled mightily in his first professional sample, with a putrid .186/.217/.265 slash line and 45 wRC+ in 25 games at High-A. Core Jackson, the team’s fifth-round pick, was similarly bad at High-A with a .183 batting average and 76 wRC+. Jackson is a Canadian shortstop who hit above .360 in each of his last two seasons at Utah. He added some power in 2025, hitting 12 homers while stealing 20 bases, but did not leave the yard once in Hudson Valley.
Pico Kohn is a 6-foot-4 southpaw with an arsenal consisting of a fastball, slider, and changeup. The slider is widely considered his best pitch, but his mid-90s fastball plays up against hitters due to a low arm slot and vertical approach angle. Much like Hess and Cunningham, the Yankees are prioritizing upside with Kohn over previous results. He had a 4.73 ERA in his final season at Mississippi State, though he did fan 32.6 percent of the hitters he faced. He did not make his professional debut in 2025.
Ones to watch for: Richard Matic, Mani Cedeno
To cap off the list, we have two teenage prospects who haven’t yet made their stateside debuts but could find themselves climbing up the organizational ranks in the next couple seasons. Richard Matic was far and away the best player for either of the Yankees Dominican Summer League affiliates in 2025. He slashed .336/.487/.566 with five home runs and 11 steals, and displayed an advanced plate approach with a 20.9-percent walk rate. He’s a third baseman with huge raw power, and saw his contact rate skyrocket from 55 percent in 2024 to 69.6 percent in 2025. He’s the most exciting player in Rookie ball for the Yankees right now, and will likely begin the 2026 season in the Complex league.
Mani Cedeno was considered one of the most advanced hitters in the international free agent class last offseason, and signed with the Yankees for $2.5 million in January. He profiles as a well-rounded shortstop with a natural ability in the field and on the base paths, and the key to his development will be on offense. Cedeno’s status as an honorable mention is based on the upside in his profile rather than the results he’s posted in his minor league career thus far. The 17-year-old has a smooth, right-handed swing and a tendency to be patient at the plate, so if Cedeno can make more contact moving forward he can develop into an exciting young player.
Other players who didn’t quite make the list here but are still worthy of a mention are Brendan Beck, the 2021 second-rounder on the verge of the big leagues in Triple-A and pitching for Great Britain in the upcoming World Baseball Classic; Allen Facundo, the 23-year-old lefty who posted a 2.14 ERA in 33 innings at Low-A; Jace Avina, the powerful right-handed outfielder who dominated High-A pitching in 2025 but hit a bit of a wall in Double-A; and Roderick Arias, the former top international signing who’s looking to bounce back after an immensely-disappointing 2025. With a front office as perpetually active on the trade market as the New York Yankees’, the farm system is ever-changing and guys are constantly shifting between levels, but fans should feel pretty good about where the system is at entering 2026.
Editor’s note: Thank you to Nolan for his diligent and insightful prospect analysis over the past year! We’ll miss him and wish him all the best.