The Yankees are releasing outfielder Ender Inciarte from his minor league contract, reports Conor Foley of the Scranton Times-Tribune (on Twitter). He’ll hit the open market and seek out additional opportunities elsewhere.
Inciarte signed with New York over the offseason, hoping to crack the big league roster after a rough 2021 season. He didn’t break camp with the team and was sent to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he ultimately appeared in 34 games. Inciarte hit .252/.336/.408 across 116 plate appearances, collecting four home runs and stolen bases apiece. The 31-year-old walked a strong 11.2% clip while only punching out in 14.7% of his plate appearances.
It was a respectable showing, but the Yankees nevertheless determined there wasn’t room on the active roster at this point. Aaron Judge is hitting at an MVP-level and has taken over as the primary center fielder, while both Joey Gallo and Aaron Hicks have started to heat up after slow starts to the year. With Giancarlo Stanton and Marwin González also capable of rotating into the outfield as needed, the 45-16 Yankees weren’t in a rush to shake up their position player group.
Since being released by the Braves last July, Inciarte hasn’t cracked the majors on successive minor league pacts with the Reds and Yankees. Nevertheless, he’s likely to attract interest from teams looking for non-roster depth. Inciarte is no longer the elite defender he was at his Gold Glove peak, but he’s still a solid gloveman at all three spots on the grass. He’s hit .200/.267/.277 in 220 plate appearances at the major league level since the start of 2020.
Hope someone gives him a shot. He was just in an unfortunate numbers crunch to make the Yankees roster.
I saw Inciarte play three games for Scranton.
He didn’t have much left in the tank… and was outplayed by prospect Estevan Florial.
Isn’t Hicks scheduled for his annual vacati…I mean, IL stint?
Gallo may be turning a corner in June. SSS and all but his numbers this month are more in line with his career avgs.
Yeah, YBC, I hope so. His OPS is over .800 for the month, but the juice still isn’t worth the squeeze after this season, imo. I root for the guy to turn it around though.
Roster crunch? What about the other 29 teams that didn’t want him? He’s terrible at this point.
His AAA numbers say he deserves a chance and just because he signed a minor league deal with the Yankees, doesn’t mean 29 other teams didn’t want him. There are a few non contenders that could use him.
When you’re a major league player on a minor league deal, basically any team can acquire you for cash. There were no suitors as far as we know. Point is, he’s a spare part.
Braves legend!
I wish him the best. He was the only player worth watching during the Braves rebuild.
Other than Freddie.
YO BRAVES READ MY USERNAME
Hopefully that’s all they do. Read it.
Blasphemer
If I had to guess, I think Inciarte is going to be the Phillies’s Roman Quinn replacement. Can also see the Padres taking a flier on him
If either of those teams wanted him they could have probably already gotten him from the Yanks for cash. He’s terrible.
Let’s not Ender here, miles to go before I sleep, a light at the end of the tunnel?
Trucker clock, who wants it!
One of the funniest bits ever!
The Detroit Tigers will take him and make him a starter tomorrow !!
After todays game that might be true
They already met their quota of .200 hitters!
They don’t need another 4a player!
Phillies, give him a shot
Don’t you want to actually get better? Cuz this guy ain’t helping with that.
Phillies should kick the tires on him.
Violence is not the answer.
Kick the tires? How about just looking up his stats. Or the fact that he’s not exactly been in demand.
Back in his prime, Inciarte was a great defender who was fairly decent at the plate. He won a few gold gloves and even made the all-star team one time. I don’t see why another team wouldn’t take a chance on him to be a 4th or 5th OF for them. Philly makes a lot of sense given his low salary, but if he wants to rebuild his value, a stint in Colorado wouldn’t hurt him either. It would be nice to see him jumpstart his career again.
“back in his prime”
That’s why.
Yankees weren’t impressed enough with Ender’s Game.
Joey Gallo is getting “hot”? In 179 ABs: .186 BA, .291 OBP; and eight home runs! I’ve never seen a longer leash for any.
At least he has good defense…
Remember he’s a Scott Boras client. Yeah, he’s worth 300 mil like you postured before the trade early last year!!! Omg
If you watch Gallo in the outfield, he actually seems incredibly uncomfortable at all times. I know the metrics may say one thing but the eye test says another. He generally makes the play but he looks very uncertain in the process.
By the way: this move paves the path for Brett Gardner’s return, right?
.831 OPS since start of June. Massive improvement to what he was doing before.
Who cares about defense. Anybody can catch the ball. He can’t hit. That’s all we need to know.
No doubt! Defense is for SQUARES!
.831 OPS in June. 3 HR in his last 38 PAs. That’s what “getting hot” means. Obviously, it doesn’t refer to what he did earlier in the season.
Actually, it does.
But some guys perpetually suck every season’s start
Here’s hoping he’s that guy! He sat down today…
179 PAs; not 179 ABs my bad 🙂
After today’s 0-for-2 with 2 strikeouts; 181 PAs now. Lol
And the sun will rise tmrw
Ender the line?
I just can’t hear Inciarte’s name without thinking about Dave Stewart’s disastrous tenure as the Dbacks’ GM and the absurd Swanson-Inciarte for Shelby Miller trade.
Would love to see him in Lehigh Valley.
Underrated player back in the day. Part of that terrible Dbacks trade of him and Dansby for Shelby Miller
Still pretty certain he’s a marked improvement over Hicks & Gallo. Plus, his girlfriend is a former Miss Universe, so there’s that.
Ugly girlfriend means he lacks confidence so that implies he’s a confident guy
Plus, you know all her friends are probably other Miss Universes and such, so that’s not a bad thing either.
Yankee Clipper, i was going to reply just that until recalled; it was reminiscent of Moneyball great movie! Yada yada i dont care if Barry Zito and the SP didnt get acknowledged; still a great movie. OBP lol.
That’s nothing. Derek Jeter wasn’t in ‘Curveballs Along The Way: The Joe Torre Story’
He’s not an improvement over those guys. Not at all. This is backup Jet QB syndrome, if you get my meaning.
Cosmo, I do & I completely understand your point, which illustrates just how bad Hicks & Gallo have been. It was in jest, obviously, but Hicks (especially) & Gallo have been so tough to watch – ugh.
But, we are fortunate to have these relatively minor complaints this year while our team is performing historically well.
I guess his D wasn’t enough to impress the Yankees. It’ll impress some other team though.
Will it? Don’t recall many teams calling the Yankees to acquire him. Could’ve been had for nothing. There’s a reason he’s had trouble getting a job. He didn’t suddenly become better. He can’t hit at all.
Blasphemer
I wish they would have released Gonzalez the “Cheater”. His pathetic 4 RBI’s and recent playing the ball bad in the outfield is a joke.
This is just another case of a terrible player being released from a minor league deal and suddenly fans become deluded that he can help several teams. There’s a reason he couldn’t crack a major league roster. Being released by the Yankees doesn’t suddenly make him a better player. Does anyone ever need a glove first, no bat backup outfielder who belongs in AAA?
End of Ender’s game?
Thought this was a good depth signing at first,but with the way things have shook out,he deserves a shot somewhere else.
Did They Have To Release Him?
The Reds might sign him back bc they’re trading everyone at the deadline.