The Yankees are outrighting Yanquiel Fernandez to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the team announced. The outfielder was designated for assignment last week, shortly after the team claimed him off waivers from the Rockies. Fernandez will be in MLB Spring Training with New York.
New York was able to get the former top prospect through waivers, allowing the club to retain him as depth. With Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger back, it’s a crowded position for the Yankees. The plethora of veteran outfielders could leave Jasson Dominguez without a roster spot. Triple-A standout Spencer Jones is also on the verge of contributing in the majors. It’s a lengthy list for Fernandez to leapfrog, but he has the pedigree to make an impact if everything breaks his way.
The 23-year-old Fernandez was one of the organization’s brightest stars heading into last season. He ranked third on MLB.com‘s list of Colorado’s top prospects. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs had the outfielder at fifth coming into the year. Fernandez has seemed to hit a roadblock at the upper levels, though. He’s slashed a mediocre .259/.320/.437 in 97 games at Triple-A the past two years. A .757 OPS is far from a failure, but the stat line did come at the extremely hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
Fernandez got his first look in the big leagues this past year, and it went poorly. He delivered a 55 wRC+ across 147 plate appearances. Fernandez’s strikeout rate pushed 30% with the Rockies. The one positive for the outfielder was getting to show off his absolute cannon of an arm. Fernandez averaged an absurd 97.2 mph on his throws from right field, which ranked in the 100th percentile. He was a slightly negative defender by Outs Above Average, but the arm strength was apparent.
Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images
I think somebody should take a shot on this kid he didn’t get a fair shot in New York or Colorado this guy was a legit 25 homer and 90 rbi prospect for years and was a top 75 prospect just 2-3 years ago and he’s still just a baby at 23! Look at his stats also he’s a stud he’s just been hurt recently but I’m calling it if he gets a chance he can be the next Yoruba Alvarez
Yordan Alvarez sorry
Just curious
Did you also misspell your username?
no, his name is Balls Tothwwall.. Olde English, I believe.
Lol I thought my name would be flagged if I spelled it correctly
one less ‘w’ and it is a very funny handle
Balls_Tothwall —
He ask his mother before born to name Yankelove
I enjoy that the misspelling of the word “the” was the part that would prevent you from getting flagged.
Udo Dirkschneider shakes his head.
I mean, he’s getting a shot with New York right now. The just slipped him through waivers so they can work with him and see what he can do without tying up a 40-man roster spot. They clearly think he might have something and have now successfully secured the opportunity to see what it is.
Alvarez has MVP potential, 40-50 homer potential, 130 RBI potential, can bat .300, draw walks, hit lefties and righties, and put up video game numbers. But I agree he wasn’t given a fair shot.
that only applies to Florial… he OWNS that narrative
the trivia answer to naming a baseball player whose name also references the preferred outcome to a baseball game:
Yanquiel
Yankee L
They won’t put him back on the 40-man until he changes his name to Yanquidub.
and here you are, commenting on a minor yankee news item., some people are just losers, regardless of what team wins or loses.
Probably closer to Yoruba Alvarez than Yordan for sure
You make a good case. He’s better than 1/2 the NYY starting infield.
“the next Yoruba Alvarez”
I can’t disagree. He could be even better
I hope some prospect comes up within next few years name Yoruba Alvarez and we all remember this conversation lol
Goodbye yanquiel. The only reason the Yankees signed him was yanquiel is the only player in baseball history to have the same first three letters in his name as the Yankees. Except for Yan Gomez but he doesn’t count.
Nope, we still got him! The Yanqui Way continues!
Looks like a jump the gun. You’re right he was outrighted.
I mean, he’s not gone. This is him sticking around.
Shadow
Yan Gomes played for several teams, including the Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Indians, Washington Nationals, and Chicago Cubs.
Esteban Yan played for the Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Texas Rangers, St. Louis Cardinals, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, and Cincinnati Reds.
If this was the million dollar question on the game show, I’d definitely lose.
Hugh Yancy (Infielder, 1972)
Bill Yancey (Shortstop, 1920s/30s – Negro Leagues)
Creature I really wasn’t trying to be dead serious about this. I sure wasn’t gonna start looking up names like the ones you found.
Yankees seem to be the team that is able to successfully pass former top prospects through waivers when other teams cannot.
They’re typically pretty low on the waiver priority, so the fact that a guy even makes it to them usually means most of the league passed to begin with
The new estaban florial
The new Franchy Cordero, more like. But you never know.
The new Martian Domínguez
Daddy Yanqui stays with the Yankees. The merchandise would be popping as the kids say these days!
Those last three sentences of the article suggest this guy will be converting to pitching in the next few years if he doesn’t make it in the big leagues as an outfielder.
Matt Blake may have a pitching project on his hands with this guy, Good observation!
I find that writer’s on this site don’t understand what Outs above average measures. It’s a measure of range. Fernandez’s arm will never factor into that. FRV is statcast’s all encompassing defensive metric.
Love to see the cards make a run at Dominguez. Maybe jojo romero and liberatore? Or other pieces.
Trade Trent
Bring up Jasson
Have Spencer ready in case of an injury in the outfield
A player who has accepted the Qualifying Offer cannot be traded until the season has progressed to a certain point (I believe in June).
Please provide link to that regulation
I have not been able to find an official source on that
Thanks
I believe it’s technically that the player has to agree to the trade up until June 15, as with any other new free agent signing. From a MLBTR article on Aroldia Chapman’s Royals tenure three years ago:
“While the Royals are receiving early trade interest, it’s unlikely any deal will come together in the immediate future. For one, Chapman can’t be traded without his consent until next month. Major league free agents who sign MLB contracts receive an automatic no-trade right until June 15 of the following season under the collective bargaining agreement. Even if Chapman were amenable to waiving that to join a contender within the next five weeks, it’s rare to see trades of significance hammered out this early in the season.”
Spencer Jones is already 26 and not in the majors. Bust incoming
History does not support your claim
Study your history please before you make these statements
mlb.com/news/greatest-late-bloomers-mlb-history
bleacherreport.com/articles/25209803-jacob-degrom-…
Condescension doesn’t help your argument. Cherry picking 10 players out of literal 10s of thousands is ridiculous.
I am sorry I do not run my life to your satisfication
It’s not the age. It’s the swing-and-miss.
Baseball is hard! Most guys don’t make it.
Players can improve
They can and I wouldn’t totally rule it out and he’s still got three option years to get better. But it would behoove him to get a move on.
How do you he isn’t busting his butt working hard ?
I am sure he’s working very hard. It is less clear that whatever he’s doing is going to get him to making the kind of contact he needs to make if hé’s going to be a big leaguer. Pretty good chance he doesn’t. Most guys don’t; hitting is very hard. I’m rooting for him, though.
@andrew
I wanted to spazz on you but I realized they have the wrong Spencer Jones linked, again. The Yanks Spencer Jones turns 25 in May. He was a 3 year college hitter that was drafted at 22. He been in the minors for 3 1/2 years with a .835 OPS. He had a 30/30 season with a .932 OPS last year and hasn’t had his chance to debut in the majors. I’m not sure how you can call him a bust. Yanks just have a temporary log jam and betting that they want to go with the guys that are preforming right now. Judge didn’t get his shot until his age 25 either. It’s silly to label him a bust just because he’s waiting but still preforming well, even with the high strike out rate. Shoot not comparing him to Judge but even he had a couple of near 200 strike out seasons. Only ones acting like age 25 is too old to debut are ppl investing in his rookie cards. Mlb teams are only concerned with what their prospects do over the next 6 years once promoted.
Yeah, there are some mitigating factors to Jones’s age and, given that he has things to work on in Scranton and three options to burn, there’s no huge rush. I agree it’s premature to declare him a bust, though I am quite skeptical that he won’t be absolutely eaten alive by big league velocity and breaking pitch spin. But it’s probably fairer to term him a low-likelihood, but high potential return kind of prospect than a bust.
Ryan Ward with the Dodgers has played six seasons of minor league baseball, has posted an .850 OPS in 1796 A
PAs in AAA. ’26 will be his age 28 season and he hasn’t played a game with the MLB team. PCL MVP in ’25.
Nobody took Ward in the Rule 5 draft in ’23 and ’24. He was placed on the 40 man in ’25 and has three options remaining. He’ll be a 31 year old rookie if the Dodgers keep him AAA for three seasons and wont be a FA until his age 37 season.
With NIL money, college players are more and more likely to play four or five seasons (red shirt) and this is a scenario that can potentially play out.
If the Yanks keep Jones in the minors for three seasons and run him through arbitration, he’ll reach free agency in his age 34 season.