Yanks land shortstop prospect Arias: report

The Yankees left all the big free agent headlines to the Mets before the lockout halted most baseball activity, but they did make a splash on the first day of MLB’s international signing period.

The Bombers have agreed to a $4 million deal with the top international prospect in the 2021 class in shortstop Roderick Arias, according to MLB.com.

Baseball’s international signing period opened Saturday after being pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The signing period — not impacted by the lockout that began at the beginning of December — runs through Dec. 15, 2022.

Arias, a 17-year-old from San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic, joins a franchise that already features top shortstop prospects Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza.

The Yankees have not confirmed the report.

A scouting report on the 6-2, 178-pound switch-hitter on MLB.com describes Arias as having “power from both sides of the plate” and “plus arm potential” on the defensive side.

Arias was the consensus No. 1 player available on the international market.

Shortstop — once expertly manned in the Bronx for nearly two decades by Hall of Famer Derek Jeter — is a key area of need heading into the ’22 campaign.

The Bombers have a void at the position after Gleyber Torres showed last season his defense was simply not up to the task. The Yankees finally had enough of Torres’ mistakes at shortstop and moved him to second base in mid-September. At the time of the position switch, Torres had the third most errors at the position in the majors (18).

Multiple industry sources told the Daily

News after the 2021 season that the Yankees were not going to be competing for the most expensive stars on the free-agent market at shortstop (Carlos Correa is still available), instead wanting to focus on a stopgap defensive option while they wait for Volpe and Peraza to reach the majors.

“We have two future, longtime impact big-league players,” Yankee skipper Aaron Boone said of the team’s top two minor league players in November.

Boone also said the team felt Peraza was “knocking on the door.”

And now the Yankees have another budding star in Arias in the organization.