EVERYBODY IN THE POOL
Deivi, King make Yanks’ 60-man roster
The Yankees included their top prospects among the 58 players they named to a pool that will be reporting for “summer camp.” The list includes top pitching prospects Deivi Garcia, Clarke Schmidt and Mike King as well as Estevan Florial, the exciting outfield prospect who has been held back by injuries.
The Yankees released their pool of players on Sunday afternoon, the deadline for all teams to submit their rosters (a maximum of 60 players) for this coronavirus-shortened, 60-game season. Players are expected to report to summer camp on July 1 and will undergo testing before teams begin workouts on July 3. The Yankees have two open spots in their pool of players.
Teams can change their pool of players, but players who are removed for reasons other than injury or suspension cannot be added back to that team’s pool. A team risks losing control of players they remove from the pool like they would moving a player through waivers.
There are 33 pitchers in the Yankees’ pool, including starters Gerrit Cole, Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, J.A. Happ and Jordan Montgomery. Among some other interesting names are 22-year-old righthander Luis Gil, ranked the Yankees’ fifth-best prospect in the farm system, 21-year-old righthander Luis Medina, the 10th-ranked prospect, and Alexander Vizcaino, a 23-yearold right-hander ranked seventh in the system.
The Yankees included six catchers in their pool as well. Gary Sanchez and Kyle Higashioka are included, but so are Erik Kratz, Chris Iannetta, Max McDoewell and Josh Thole. The risk of injury to catchers, particularly as they ramp back up in the heat, means there is safety in numbers. Under the rules for this season, the Yankees and all teams will have to carry an extra catcher on their taxi squads, so that opens up a job for one of the veterans who were invited to the original spring training on a minor-league deal.
The inclusion of Garcia, Schmidt, King, Florial and the other young prospects does not mean the Yankees expect them to be playing in the Bronx this season. With no minor-league seasons being played this summer, the taxi squads are a chance to keep those talented young players in organized workouts throughout the summer.
But still there is a shot that a few of them could break through. Of the four top young names, King and Garcia may have the best chance at pitching in pinstripes this season. King already got his taste of the big leagues last September.
Pitching two scoreless innings last September against the Rangers was a confirmation of what King had done in 2018, before he was hurt in the spring of last year.
In 2018, King was hands-down the top pitching prospect in the Yankee organization. After he was acquired from the Marlins, King allowed 118 hits, struck out 152 and walked 29 over 161.1 innings pitched. In six starts for Triple-A Scranton that year, King went 4-0 with a 1.15 ERA.
That hot start in the Yankees system in 2018 had him coming into the 2019 season expected to be the first arm called up if there was an injury. Unfortunately for King, he was the first pitcher hurt, suffering an elbow injury in spring training.
Garcia looked to be on the verge of a call up last year before seeming to run out of gas at the end of the season when the team tried to use him out of the bullpen in Triple-A.
Garcia struck 33 in 17.2 innings in High-A ball and an eye-popping 37% of the batters he faced in Double-A. In Triple-A, Garcia struck out 45 over 40 innings. He made the gigantic leap from A-ball to Triple-A in three months.
Schmidt is perhaps the most intriguing of the three, but has the least professional experience.
Drafted 16th overall in 2017 out of the University of South Carolina, Schmidt was coming off Tommy John surgery and really just got started pitching professionally in 2018. He has pitched just 27 professional games and currently is not on the 40-man roster.
The right-hander had a fairly meteoric rise in 2019. He struck out 102 in 90.1 innings while pitching to a 3.47 ERA.