In a dizzying series of roster moves prior to tonight’s game, the Yankees announced that they’ve selected the contracts of top outfield prospect Dustin Fowler and recently outrighted slugger Chris Carter. To clear spots on the 40-man roster, New York designated Mason Williams for assignment and transferred Greg Bird to the 60-day disabled list. The Yankees also announced that a right hamstring strain has landed Tyler Austin on the 10-day disabled list, while third baseman Miguel Andujar has been optioned back to Triple-A after just one game.
The 22-year-old Fowler ranks just inside the game’s Top 100 prospects, per Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, who have the former 18th-round pick as baseball’s No. 98 overall prospect. Fowler opened the 2017 season in Triple-A and, in his first exposure to that level of pitching, responded with a very strong .293/.329/.542 batting line through his first 70 games. In 313 plate appearances, Fowler has racked up 13 homers, 19 doubles and eight triples to go along with 13 stolen bases.
Callis and Mayo laud the defensive improvements that Fowler has made since signing, noting that he’s gone from a corner-only option to a solid center field defender. They feel his approach at the dish needs some refinement — which is seemingly reflected in his poor 63-to-15 K/BB ratio in those 313 PAs — but note that he makes tons of hard contact and has 20-homer, 20-steal upside in the Majors.
Carter was outrighted off the 40-man just yesterday, but he’ll return to replace the injured Austin as a first base option for the Yankees. Austin has been told that he’s suffered a “high-grade strain” of his hamstring, tweets MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. Certainly, that’s an ominous development for the 25-year-old Austin, who looked to have an opportunity to establish himself at first base following Carter’s DFA and Bird’s injury struggles. Austin is headed to Tampa to be examined by a specialist.
Carter signed a one-year deal with the Yankees this winter after what some considered to be a surprising non-tender from the Brewers. Carter led the National League in homers last year, but his huge strikeout totals, lack of OBP and limited defensive value suppressed his price tag to a $3.5MM guarantee on said one-year deal. In 189 plate appearances with New York this season, Carter hit just .204/.286/.383. While he did slug eight homers in that fairly short timeframe, he also struck out in 37 percent of his plate appearances in his first stint with the Yankees.
Williams, 25, has received just 17 plate appearances with the Yanks this season and a total of 68 across the past three seasons, but the once-elite prospect hasn’t delivered at the game’s highest level — or in Triple-A, for that matter. Through those 68 big league PAs, Williams has batted .281/.313/.391, and his cumulative line across parts of three Triple-A campaigns rests at a less-impressive .278/.318/.345 in a much larger sample of 480 PAs.
New York’s 40-man roster is stuffed with outfielders, including Fowler, Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury, Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks, while top prospect Clint Frazier is also waiting in the wings. As such, there’s no real path to playing time for Williams, whom the Yankees will have seven days to trade or attempt to pass through waivers.
Yankees fans will undoubtedly be frustrated to see Andujar optioned just one day after going 3-for-4 and plating four runs in his Major League debut, but manager Joe Girardi tells reporters that the decision comes down to a simple desire to get Andujar everyday at-bats at third base (Twitter link via Hoch). While some will undoubtedly clamor for Andujar to play over Chase Headley, the veteran Headley has somewhat quietly rebounded from a poor start to hit .303/.415/.395 across his past 95 trips to the plate.
It certainly remains possible that Andujar resurfaces with the Yankees later this summer, and he certainly figures to be back with the club as a September call-up, at the very least, now that he’s on the 40-man roster.
Baseball America’s Josh Norris first reported Fowler’s promotion (Twitter link). Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported Williams’ DFA (on Twitter).
Welcome back chris lol.
Bird to 60 Day DL and either Refsnyder or Mason Williams DFA is my guess. The Yankees lineup card for tonight has 26 men on it so someone will be removed.
Refsnyder’s listed on the lineup card tonight, so he’s safe.
26 guys are. Someone will be removed.
Touche! I didn’t actually count the number of guys listed.
I feel like all these call ups are great and also a sort of showcase that our prospects ca handle the majors in case their used a chips for deadline trades. Carter back though yikes.
As long as Carter is on the bench and not an everyday player , I don’t mind that much.
I don’t see us making silly overpriced deadline trades
If that’s the case, they’re very smart with the timing. He gets to go against James Shields tonight. That bodes well for his first shot in the bigs.
Trade coming?
Nope Cashman is gonna hold on to youth. There is no one worth investing in. I’d rather sell Pineda and get more kids
Allow me to clarify… I wasn’t suggesting they’d be trading their youth for overpriced contracts. I was wondering if either a small trade was coming (i.e. Ref and/or Williams for a low level prospect) or a big money eating trade to rid them of Headley and/or Ellsbury.
The ladder would be great, but I only see it for Headley. Ellsbury is owed way too much money and years for them to eat the remain or even a bulk of it.
Turns out they just DFA’d Williams.
I assume some team will want to roll the dice on him in a trade within the next 7 days.
Mason Williams DFA. Yankees as of now still have 26 men on tonight’s lineup card. I’d say it’s likely Ref or one of their 8 relievers sent down.
Mason Williams…another once “elite” prospect. Be careful putting all your eggs in the prospect basket.
I think he was once a top 100. Maybe top 30 at most. And that was probably back in 2013 or so.
BA had him at #32 in all of baseball in 2013, right ahead of guys like Albert Almora, Jorge Soler, Chris Archer and George Springer
…so much for that
How’s Soler working out?
Not all that great, but he does have a 102 OPS+ over 835 ML PA
So what Fowler will probably become.
Maybe, but Fowler has actually produced at the highest level of the minors, something Mason never did, so I don’t think they are comparable.
I think fowler will be good, but the Adams kid they just called up I’m more slept oval about. He’s had a very up and down minor league career and seemed to come out of nowhere this year.
Wow sceptical*
There you go again..give it a rest Buster O.
Damn and I thought Adams was Wade, but point still stands
Fun game: Yankees top 10 prospects, five years ago:
1. Jesus Montero
2. Manny Banuelos
3. Dellin Betances
4. Gary Sanchez
5. Mason Williams
6. Dante Bichette Jr.
7. Ravel Santana
8. Austin Romine
9. JR Murphy
10. Slade Heathcott.
At least jr murphy got us back hicks.
You can play that game with most teams and get similar results.
Exactly. That’s the point. Prospects are tough currency.
This is BA’s top 10, btw.
True. I’m going to just pick a team at random. Let’s say Cleveland.
So here it is, Cleveland’s top 10 prospects, five years ago:
1. Francisco Lindor
2. Dillon Howard
3. Nick Hagadone
4. Chen Lee
5. Luigi Rodriguez
6. Zach McAllister
7. Tony Wolters
8. Austin Adams
9. Scott Barnes
10. Zach Putnam
Again, from Baseball America.
Google is a powerful tool
What happened to Bichette, Jr. ?
Still in the system. Still a prospect.
Adujar optioned.
I think I would rather have Headley play 1st and give Andujar a shot at 3rd. Bird might b done for the year. And Austin just can’t stay healthy. Carter is a waste of a roster spot. Designate him and leave him in triple a if he accepts the assignment. Too bad Torres got hurt. If he were given the chance at a call up I doubt if he went 3-4 with 4 RBI they would of sent him down after one game.
The Yankees had a simple choice: keep Andujar and play him or Headley at 1B, or take another shot with Carter. They made a really bad choice. Carter didn’t play well when he was a regular, or off the bench.
If they plan on using Romine at 1B frequently, they really need another catcher. Recent DFA’s Stephen Vogt and Miguel Montero come to mind. Vogt has the added benefit of being able to play 1B and corner outfield.
Vogt was picked up by the Brewers.
Vogt is with Milwaukee. But I could see Montero going to NY. But he’d be a fit for lots of teams as a back up as he’s a pretty good back up. Apparently a bad clubhouse presence though which will hinder is market.
Great. Fowler leaves the game in the first inning with a leg injury.
Hopefully it’s nothing major but definitely looks like an ACL/MCL type of situation. Hopefully it’s just a strain or something and he doesn’t miss the year the kid has potential.
Poor kid, just missed out on his first AB gets injured and doesn’t look good.
Hearing now that fowler has a ruptured patella tendon.
What a great oppo for the kids
Castro
Hicks
Chapman
cc
Ellz burried
Bird
Austin
The disappointing 1B CC
Who else?
That’s a great set of injuries, to force the Yankees hands to call up ALL their future stars, give the scouts a peak at possible trade candiddles
Which is what the fans need
Just a glimpse ahead
Confused on why they would send down Andujar instead of putting either him or Headley at 1B? You know what you’re going to get with Carter, multiple strikeouts with a homerun sprinkled here and there.
Also confused why Williams was designated for assignment, when Refsnyder has shown his inability to be an effective hitter.
Mason Williams was a top 10 Yankees prospect years back, although calling him
“Elite” is a stretch, he has never been disappointing. Infact, he’s been a solid hitter in the 2 brief stints prior to this year, hitting .286 & .296….never really had time to settle in and see what he can do with real playing time. Batting .250 this year only had 16 at bats to go on….
With Hicks, Fowler & Austin on the DL, Williams DFA, I’d expect Clint Frazier to be the next Baby Bomber to get promoted.