A Viewing Guide To The New York Yankees Farm System In 2026
At the end of April 3, all four New York Yankees full-season affiliates will have played at least one game. While the Yankees farm system has dropped in the rankings in recent years, there should still be a lot of buzz as to which prospects pop onto the radar in the ‘26 season for Scranton Wilkes-Barre, Somerset, Hudson Valley, and Tampa.
So, to get you set for the upcoming season, we at Yankees Savant wanted to give you a viewing guide. To do this, we are going to give you a full team and include one affiliate for each category to complete the ultimate Yankees prospect team heading into Minor League Opening Day.
Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Outfield
When you have the likes of Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones in the outfield, it’s hard to not have the Triple-A club as the selection for this position. Dominguez is off to a solid start to the season at the plate (5-for-18, 1 HR, 4 RBis), but he has already made one error misjudging a ball out in left field last Sunday in Buffalo.
As for Jones, he hit his first home run of the season in Game 2 of the Buffalo doubleheader (4-for-20, HR, 3 RBIs, 12 K’s). It’s a long season, but Jones is not off to a good start in terms of trying to work on cutting down the high strikeout rate.
All eyes will be on Dominguez and Jones as they get the chance to play everyday while they await their call either to the bigs for the first time (Jones) or a return to the show (Dominguez).
The other name to watch is 23-year-old Yanquiel Fernandez. While the left-handed hitter is only 4-for-19 on the season, he does have two solo home runs. The Yankees claimed Fernandez off waivers from the Colorado Rockies last February. At Triple-A Albuquerque a year ago, he had a slash line of .284/.347/.502 with 13 home runs, 39 RBIs, and an .849 OPS in just 64 games.
Somerset Starting Pitching
When you look at the Yankees farm system as a whole, pitching is going to be the area that has the most talent and the most depth in the organization. You can make a case for different affiliates in terms of top arms. Scranton of course will have Carlos Lagrange, Elmer Rodriguez, and even Luis Gil to begin the year. Tampa has the intrigue of watching Henry Lalane and Hudson Valley has Pico Kohn making his pro debut (Opening Day starter) along with Spring Breakout standout Jack Cebert.
However, when you look at the trio Somerset has with Ben Hess, Kyle Carr, and Cade Smith, those three could be pitchers that fans look to highly a year from now if all things go right. According to MLB Pipeline, those three are all inside the top 20 of the Yankees prospect list (Hess – 5th, Carr – 11th, Smith – 16th)
Hess was the Yankees 1st Round pick in 2024,. The Alabama right-hander had a strong first full professional season as he eclipsed 100 innings (103.1) combined at Somerset and Hudson Valley. He was 7-4 with a 3.75 ERA and had 139 strikeouts to 46 walks in 22.1 innings.
Not only did Hess not allow more than three runs in any of his seven Double-A starts to end the year, but he also had six straight outings where he went at least five innings. He is going to get the Opening Day start on Friday against the Portland SeaDogs (Boston Red Sox).
Earlier this spring on the Yankees Savant podcast, I had Carr as my breakout pitcher to watch this spring. Ironically, Carr got the chance to start the Spring Breakout game against the Atlanta Braves on March 21 (3.1 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 3 K, 41 of 67 pitches for strikes)
Carr repeated Hudson Valley last year, but earned a promotion to Somerset at the end of the season due to his dominant results. The 23-year-old left-hander (turns 24 in May) went 8-6 with a 1.96 ERA over 22 starts with the Renegades (104 strikeouts to 47 walks in 119.1 innings). Carr only made three starts at Somerset to end the year, but it will be interesting to see if his offspeed pitches can still get hitters to produce weak contact as the competition gets tougher.
Smith will turn 24 on April 9 and the 6th Round pick in 2023 did well in a small sample size a year ago (35.2 innings in the FCL, Tampa, and Hudson Valley). While a shoulder injury limited his 2025 production, he was able to get to go to the Arizona Fall League this year to continue his development.
Like Carr, Smith’s offspeed pitches will be one to monitor as he gets tested at Double-A. He is able to have a plus slider and a plus curveball to go with a fastball that is between 91-93 miles-per-hour in velocity. This might have been an aggressive promotion on the surface, but his deception could help him adjust to a different level of competition in 2026.
Hudson Valley Infield
If you are looking to follow the 2025 Yankees draft class in their first full professional seasons, the Renegades are going to be the team that you follow. In total, 11 of the Yankees draft picks will be in Poughkeepsie to begin the 2026 campaign.
It is an infield that will have some familiarity to it with returnees Core Jackson and Kaeden Kent. Jackson, who was the Yankees 5th Round pick in 2025 out of Utah, went right to High-A when his professional career began. While the results weren’t quite there (.183/.287/.280, .567 OPS in 25 games), keep in mind this is a left-handed bat who hit over .360 in each of his last two seasons at Utah.
Two rounds earlier than Jackson, the Yankees went with the son of Hall-of-Famer Jeff Kent. Kaeden will also be looking to bounce back after a rough start to his pro career with the Renegades a year ago (.186/.217/.265, .482 OPS in 25 games). Jackson and Kent are two intriguing left-handed bats in the system that the Yankees have high hopes for going forward.
Joining Kent and Jackson there this year will be another acclaimed Yankees prospect in Roderick Arias. Arias will be going into his fifth season in professional baseball, so some are hoping the talent starts to come together. The switch-hitter can flash some speed (30+ stolen bases each of the last two years at Low-A Tampa), but the bat hasn’t formed the same results (.640 OPS in 104 games a year ago).
Behind the plate, the Yankees have an under-the-radar prospect in catcher Eric Genther. The undrafted free agent out of Rhode Island was converted to a catcher from the outfield. Genther had a 1.062 OPS with the Rams a year ago. He had 17 games at Tampa a year ago (.867 OPS), so it will be fun to watch the production he could have for a full season.
One player who I am intrigued about in watching his High-A debut is 13th Round pick Kyle West. The 23-year-old out of West Virginia showed good power in his last two seasons with the Mountaineers (25 home runs in 105 games). He got a cup of coffee with the Tarpons last year (11 games), but he is still looking for that first professional long ball.
Tampa Pitching
The headline arm is going to be Henry Lalane. The 21-year-old left-hander will hopefully be able to get a full season workload this year after appearing in just ten games combined since 2024 (shoulder surgery). The 6’7” pitcher from the Bronx can get the fastball in the mid-upper 90’s, but his changeup is going to be the pitch to watch this year.
Another name to watch is left-hander Allen Facundo. Facundo had Tommy John surgery in 2024, which caused him to appear in just 8 games a season ago. However, the 23-year-old had some strong numbers (2.67 ERA, 35 strikeouts in 33.2 innings). His fastball can get up to 100 mph in velocity, but it will be his two-seam fastball and his slider that will be in the spotlight this year.
A Tampa pitcher that will be making his professional debut this year is Blake Gillespie. Gillespie was the Yankees 9th Round pick in 2025 out of UNC-Charlotte and he threw the ball well in the American Conference (7-4, 2.51 ERA. 15 starts – 3 complete games, 131 strikeouts to 19 walks in 100.1 innings). He had the most strikeouts in a single season by a Canadian pitcher in the history of USA Collegiate Baseball.
As for who will start on Opening Day on Friday against Lakeland, there was a report from Yankees Farm on Thursday that it would be left-hander Justin West. West was the Yankees 18th Round pick in last year’s MLB Draft out of Louisville.
West pitched primarily out of the bullpen for Louisville a year ago, but he did make a couple of starts out of 25 appearances (5.59 ERA). While he did have 12.8 strikeouts per 9 innings, the key for West as he begins his professional career is to keep the walks down (20 in 37.1 innings).
As the minor league season gets underway, which teams and/or players are you monitoring right out of the gate?