The Yankees reached agreement with corner outfielder/first baseman/catcher Cooper Hummel on a minor league deal, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. He had elected free agency yesterday after being outrighted off Houston’s 40-man roster. The Gaeta Sports Management client would be paid at an $820K rate for time spent in the big leagues, Passan adds. He’ll start his tenure at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Hummel is out of minor league options, so he needed to break camp with the Astros or be designated for assignment. The switch-hitter put a strong foot forward in Spring Training, hitting .316 with seven walks and nine strikeouts across 46 plate appearances. The Astros nevertheless opted not to carry him on their bench, tabbing former Rockies second baseman Brendan Rodgers as their final position player. They officially designated Hummel for assignment on Opening Day and placed him on waivers this week.
The 30-year-old spent one full season in the Houston organization. The Astros had claimed him off waivers from the Giants last spring. They outrighted him a couple weeks later but reselected his contract in June when they released José Abreu. Hummel spent most of the season in Triple-A, exhausting his final option year in the process. He went 0-8 with a pair of strikeouts in his big league work. He had a solid year in Triple-A, hitting .277/.419/.454 with a massive 17.9% walk rate through 442 plate appearances.
A former Milwaukee draftee, Hummel went to the Diamondbacks at the 2021 trade deadline as part of the return for Eduardo Escobar. He made a career-high 66 appearances for the Snakes the following season, putting up a .176/.274/.307 slash over 201 plate appearances. Arizona swapped him to the Mariners for former Rookie of the Year winner Kyle Lewis during the 2022-23 offseason. He bounced to the Mets and Giants before the move to Houston.
Hummel’s patient approach has resulted in an impressive .285/.419/.480 line across four Triple-A seasons. He has only made 16 big league appearances since the end of the ’22 season. Hummel has a decent amount of catching experience in the minors, but he divided his Triple-A time between the outfield and first base last year. He could potentially catch on occasion while joining Dominic Smith as non-roster first base depth.
I don’t see the fit if he’s on the MLB roster.
Why add him? I guess in case of an injury
Hummel doesn’t get rave reviews catcher or OF.
HummeI doesn’t get rave reviews catcher or OF.
who do they have in the minors as they have all 3 of the AAA catchers in the majors from last year
@Flyby – Ronaldo Hernandez & Alex Jackson are at Triple A as catchers
Assuming he plays well enough to be a factor, Hummel gives you a 3rd catcher on the roster. Getting Rice ab’s when Stanton returns will be challenging. Hummel gives you more defensive flexibility than Escarra which would allow Rice to maximize ab’s with Wells, Goldschmidt and Stanton. It’s not a high level needle mover but it does have subtle influence on managing the roster throughout the season.
But only ones that can actually dig a ditch. This guy ain’t one of them from what I see.
Keep picking up players off the scrap heap lmao
Boston will beat NY by at least 5 games. Book it
Burn?
You’ve probably been saying that every year of your life, and were wrong most of the time.
Is Kyle Lewis out of baseball?
Yes as haven’t pop up in milb affiliated or independent ball
Elite OBP in the minors but it just shows how much better control the guys in the majors have over the minors. It’s a lottery ticket that probably won’t pan out but not a big cost to the Yankees, either way.
This puts us over the top.
Most of these guys are depth for the first half. They’ll either opt out or get pushed out when AA guys get promoted.
They could use some SP depth at AAA, but no more relievers.
He Is better than Dominic Smith