Farm systems go through cycles. There are strong classes and cycles that rise through the minor leagues together, graduate together, and recycle through. In a situation like the Yankees’, where minor league depth is routinely pillaged for deadline upgrades, the surviving prospects who rise through the system leave chasms in their wake.
This happened to the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in 2025. While polarizing top prospect Spencer Jones spent the year in Moosic, he was surrounded by veterans on minor league contracts, older prospects without much value or big league potential, and journeymen. The recent graduation of players like Will Warren, Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, Ben Rice, Jasson Domínguez, and, later, Cam Schlittler, left a chasm at the top minor league level, while development continued below with reinforcements.
After another trade deadline which saw the Yankees’ farm system once again cleaned out of its depth, the top prospects that remained are continuing the cycle. Thanks to those promoted prospects, conjoined with a strong group of the yearly veterans on minor league deals and some demoted major leaguers due to newfound depth, there’s a chance that the RailRiders team we see to start the season is one of the best Triple-A teams in recent memories.
The one area they’ll likely be weak, especially with J.C. Escarra starting the year in the majors, is at catcher. A big part of the Yankees’ deadline prospect purge saw them deal from their catching depth, which included Rafael Flores. This year, expect to see two non-roster invites splitting time between Ali Sánchez and Payton Henry. Both have bounced around the league and have gotten time in the majors as midseason fill-ins due to injury, but aren’t particularly known for their bats.
In the infield, it’s full of veterans who are looking to rebuild themselves and get back to the big leagues. You saw plenty of Paul DeJong and Max Schuemann in spring training, and you figure if any Yankee infielder goes down in the early going, they’ll be seriously considered for a promotion. DeJong has over 900 games of MLB experience across the last nine years, and the former All-Star will play a lot of shortstop, while Schuemann, the former Athletic, is more flexible. Jonathan Ornelas and Braden Shewmake, two more guys with limited big league experience, also factor into the mix, while Ernesto Martinez Jr., signed out of the Brewers’ organization, should start at first base.
Where this team really shines, however, is in the outfield. The Yankees have a numbers problem in the outfield, and with them running back MLB’s top outfield from 2025 and looking to optimize their bench with a right-handed platoon bat, it’s pushed two players coming off tremendous springs into Triple-A. Domínguez and Jones would both be starting on numerous teams in the league, but find themselves on the outside looking in here.
There’s a lot to prove for both of them, who are the biggest storylines of the spring. Domínguez needs to at least be a passable defender in left field and needs to show he’s more than a platoon bat (the spring data is encouraging!). Jones has so many positive traits, but he has to show he can make enough contact for his tremendous power to have an impact against big league pitching.
The rest of the outfield is equally stacked. Seth Brown is just two years removed from being in the heart of the Athletics’ order, Yanquiel Fernandez played 52 games for the lowly Rockies last season, and there’s, of course, Oswaldo Cabrera. He was the odd man out on the Yankees’ bench, and the super-utilityman will start in Scranton as he works his way back from his nasty ankle injury last May. This hitting core has a baffling amount of talent.
Rotations are always in flux at any level, and we’ll likely only see this rotation for a few weeks, but the top of the RailRiders’ rotation has a lot of talent. Luis Gil isn’t needed in the bigs for the next few weeks, so he’ll look to refine his arsenal with a few Triple-A starts. He’s followed up by top prospects Elmer Rodriguez and Carlos Lagrange. Rodriguez, who boasts a diverse, six-pitch arsenal, got a cup of coffee at this level last year and could be in the Bronx sooner than later in a starting capacity.
With the flamethrowing Lagrange, it’s a matter of how long the Yankees hold onto the tantalizing potential of him as a starting pitcher. His stuff and the way he maintains his velocity inning after inning is legitimately one-of-a-kind. What holds him back is his command, which he improved significantly in 2025, but he still walks too many batters to be an effective MLB starter. The Yankees’ bullpen has a scarily low floor with a lot of question marks, so you cannot rule out that management deems his stuff as too good to keep in the minors and puts him in the big league bullpen this summer.
The rest of the rotation figures to include soft-tossing righty Brendan Beck and some non-roster invite veterans like Adam Kloffenstein or Dom Hamel. The bullpen has several arms who will frequent the Scranton Shuffle all season, like Yerry De los Santos, Kervin Castro, and Angel Chivilli. Some non-40-man arms that will get big innings for this team include Harrison Cohen, who pitched for Israel in the World Baseball Classic, Yovanny Cruz, who flashed triple digits in limited spring action, and former Royals reliever Dylan Coleman. There’s also former Astro Rafael Montero if he ever gets his visa issue figured out.
In a perfect world, the Yankees can lean on their current 26 (and reinforcements) all season and won’t have to dip much into Scranton to replace injured players, but it’ll undoubtedly happen. Last year, there wasn’t much depth at their disposal with a general void in the upper minors. But this year? This is the deepest and most talented minor league team I’ve ever seen. I legitimately wonder what a seven-game series would look like against the Rockies, which would probably not be as competitive as I think, but it tells you how much talent there is that could play in the majors elsewhere.
