IT’S ROSTER ROULETTE

Yanks protect three pitchers and infielder from Rule 5 draft

In June, the experts who have fed baseball with talent for over a century had to improvise. With the coronavirus raging through the country, the sport shut down from Little League to the majors. Amateur scouts, who are responsible for identifying and vetting the next generation of the game’s talent, had to figure out how to find those future stars — and even more difficult the diamonds in the rough. They had to make tough decisions by looking at old video, workouts posted on social media and Zoom Calls.

Damon Oppenheimer, the Yankees’ head of amateur domestic scouting, called it “challenging.”

With the 2020 minor league season completely wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic and even a traditional instructional league for the Yankees being skipped this fall, the development and evaluation of prospects is going to be even more challenging this offseason. Still, the Rule 5 draft, which will be held virtually since the Winter Meetings were canceled because of the virus, is now less than three weeks away and teams have to make decisions on which players they are going to protect.

By 6 p.m. on Friday, teams have to have their 40-man rosters set, meaning they need to add players that they do not want to lose in the draft. Players signed at age 18 or under are eligible for the Rule 5 draft after five seasons in the minors, if they were signed at age 19 or over, it’s after four seasons.

The Yankees went into Friday with 36 players on their 40-man roster, meaning they had four spots to add players. They added right-handed pitchers Alexander Vizcaino, Roansy Contreras, Yoendrys Gomez and infielder Oswald Peraza.

“The draft is probably going to be fairly interesting this year, I think it will be pretty active and it’s going to be a little more of a gamble,” one American League executive said. “Nobody has had a chance to see these guys. The [alternate training site] were closed to scouts. So, it will be interesting.”

The Yankees have a few choices to fill those spots, but few easy calls.

“They have an obvious choice,” one National League scout said. “Guys like [Alexander] Vizcaino, who they had at their [alternate training site] this summer. And then they have some tougher decisions.”

Vizcaino, a 23-year-old right-hander, struck out 128 in 115 innings in high Class-A in 2019 and has the ability to touch 100 miles an hour with his fastball.

“He has a good fastball, throws hard and good changeup too,” the scout said. “He’s an easy decision. He would be gone in the Rule 5 draft.”

Roansy Contreras is another pitching prospect the Yankees might have to protect. The 21-year-old caught the attention of rival scouts when he pitched to a 3.33 ERA in Class-A Charleston back in 2019.

“He’s not a real high strikeout guy, but he has really good control,” the scout said.

Oswald Peraza is a 20-year-old shortstop who is ranked as the Yankees’ fourth best prospect by MLB Pipeline. While his numbers in 2019 at Charleston are not overwhelming — .263 batting average, four homers, 20 RBI and 23 stolen bases — he’s projected to stick at shortstop.

“He makes good contact, good defensive shortstop,” the scout said.

Oswaldo Cabrera, a switch-hitting shortstop who can also play third and second base, is another tough call for the Yankees. He hit .260 with eight homers, 56 RBI and posted a .687 OPS in 120 games for Tampa in 2019.

Yoendrys Gomez, a 21-year-old righthander, went from rookie ball to impressing in Class-A in 2019. He pitched to a 3.99 ERA in 2019, but in just 26.2 innings.

“He has a high upside, his fastball is improving,” an American League scout said. “He has very limited work though, so it would be a risk to take him in the Rule 5 draft.”

The Yankees have some other potential prospects they could add including right-handed pitcher Trevor Stephan, their third-round pick in 2017, and Kyle Holder, a 26-year-old defense-first shortstop who did workout at the alternate training site this summer.