While other teams have announced which non-rostered players they will be inviting to Spring Training (outside of individual deals), the Yankees have yet to do so. Pitchers and catchers will report to Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, FL a week from today, so there’s not much time left for the organization to dawdle.
Pitchers
Starters:
- Brendan Beck
- Bryce Cunningham
- Dom Hamel (40-man)
- Chase Hampton (40-man)
- Ben Hess
- Carlos Lagrange
- Elmer Rodríguez (40-man)
- Ryan Weathers (40-man)
- Cade Winquest (40-man; Rule 5 acq.)
Relievers:
- Kervin Castro (40-man)
- Angel Chivilli (40-man)
- Harrison Cohen
- Dylan Coleman
- Bradley Hanner
- Travis MacGregor
- Eric Reyzelman
Catchers
- Ali Sánchez
- Payton Henry
Infielders
- Paul DeJong
- Dax Kilby
- George Lombard Jr.
- Marco Luciano
- Ernesto Martinez Jr.
- Jonathan Ornelas
- Miguel Palma
- Jorbit Vivas (40-man)
Outfielders
- Seth Brown
- Kenedy Corona
- Spencer Jones (40-man)
Winquest is unique because his situation comes with specific terms. As noted previously, the Yankees must roster him on the 26-man for the full season, or they must send him back to St. Louis in exchange for half ($50,000) of the money they paid for him.
Aside from that, most of these invites are part of the package deal from the minor league deals they’ve made to refill the depleted Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre roster, or are 40-man players.
Of the list, a few names stick out, for better or worse.
Dom Hamel and Angel Chivilli are both recent acquisitions, with Hamel having been a former 2021 draft pick by the Mets. 2021 has yielded quite a bit of talent for the Yankees, including that of 9th rounder Will Warren, 12th rounder Ben Rice, and potential invite 2nd rounder Brendan Beck.
Beck has been incredibly injury-prone, missing both the 2022 and 2024 seasons to injury. Last year, Beck threw a combined 3.36 ERA across 54.1 IP in AA and 77 IP in AAA, recording a 8.43 K/9 and a 2.47 BB/9.
Paul dissected the Chivilli deal previously, but Hamel is perhaps the most intriguing of the two. He made his MLB debut with the Mets last September, allowing only three hits in one inning before being sent back to Syracuse. However, with AAA Syracuse, he threw a 5.32 ERA with a 9.98 K/9 and a 2.93 BB/9; the latter two being considered “elite” numbers. Hamel was a converted reliever after having previously been a starter, which could be critical for a bullpen that doesn’t currently have a lot of depth. Further, Hamel has 2 options, so he will have some flexibility to be sent down to SWB when the Yankees need to make moves after Schmidt, Rodón, Cole, etc. return from the IL.
Personally, I’m more excited to see Cunningham than Hess as the former impressed me more than the latter. However, the Yankees seem to be moving Hess faster than they are Cunningham. In fact, Hess threw nearly double the innings Cunningham did (103.1 vs 54.1, respectively). There’s a lot to like with both pitchers, though. Cunningham had a better ERA in 2025, despite being limited to High-A Hudson Valley, of 2.82 with a K/9 of 9.11 and a BB/9 of 9.15.
Compare that to what Hess threw: a combined ERA of 3.22 with a K/9 of 12.11 and a BB/9 of 4.01, with 36.2 of the 103.1 IP coming in AA Somerset. In AA, Hess threw better, actually (2.70 ERA, 11.05 K/9, 3.19 BB/9), but that could be attributed to the smaller sample size. I like the arsenal and control of Cunningham more than that of Hess, but Hess is definitely doing something right with a K rate of 1/3 of the batters faced and an OBA of .175.
I think including Kilby could be a bit of a long shot to be invited, but at the same time, he showed much better mechanics at the plate and agility on defense than some expected, so the Yankees may want to see where he ranks among other infielders. Battery mate (third baseman) Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek is already in Tampa, and he could be a storyline to watch as the Yankees seek a long-term replacement at 3B. I think he and Kilby will fight for the position long-term with Lombard Jr the likely slot-in at SS if Volpe underperforms again this season after returning from the IL, but it’s yet to be seen how strong – and accurate – Kilby’s arm is to be a viable third baseman.
Speaking of that side of the infield, I think the Yankees will eventually move on from Jorbit Vivas, and will likely include him in a package with either Domínguez or Jones and/or pitching. All of us at YS feel confident that Vivas is an underwhelming prospect and that should be apparent considering he has never been in the discussion regarding the platoon at shortstop with Volpe out for the first part of the season.
It will be good to have a veteran presence of Paul DeJong in both Spring Training and in Scranton, but I don’t expect him to be anything more than emergency injury depth. Further, signing DeJong shows that they have even less confidence in Vivas that we may even know.
Jonathan Ornelas will also be Triple-A depth, as he had numbers floating around the Mendoza line last year between Gwinnett and Round Rock, the Braves’ and Rangers’ respective Triple-A affiliates.
Marco Luciano is an intriguing signing in that he came from the same IFA class that brought the Yankees Osiel Rodríguez, Kevin Alcántara, Antonio Gómez and Alexander Vargas. Luciano was ranked by Pipeline as the 3rd best available prospect, and had spent his entire career with the Giants up until his free agency this offseason. The intriguing part about Luciano is not his bat; that’s underwhelming, sitting at a career BA of .217. No, it’s his utility availability, in that he is a natural 2B/SS, but can also play LF and 1B. The latter part may come to be crucial if they don’t bring Paul Goldschmidt back on a one-year term.
Kenedy Corona used to be a top prospect for the Astros, but his stock severely dropped along with his batting stats in 2024 & 2025. The .259 career hitter barely hit .220 in 2025 and didn’t even reach that in 2024. Despite that, Corona made his Major League debut last July, only playing in one game with the Astros.
Comments are closed