New York Yankees Top Prospects to Know

You are reading the free version of the New York Yankees Top Prospects. In this version, you will get the full writeups on the top prospect in the system, the biggest sleeper, and a player I could see breaking out in 2025.

In this edition, you will see what I offer in the full team reports. For every farm system, you will get my top 50 ranked players and detailed reports on the top 30. Each report includes advanced player data, traditional scouting thoughts from live and video looks, plus thoughts from scouts around the league.

Let’s dive in on what you get in the full report!

Glossary:

FFG = Future Fantasy Grade - essentially, what is the likely long-term outcome for the prospect? This is always going to be more conservative. Handing out ace tags is not something I like to do. So, this is a realistic outcome.

90th Peak = If the player hits their best-case outcome, what does it look like?

Variance = How risky is this player’s profile, and how likely are they to hit their likely outcome? Low variance is good; high means more risky.

Format for report: Name/Position/Age on 2025 Opening Day/Height/Weight/Highest Level

New York Yankees Top Prospect

1. Jasson Domínguez, OF, 22, 5’9”/190, MLB

One of the most hyped prospects on the international market in the last ten years, Domínguez, deemed “The Martian,” was unfairly compared to players like Mike Trout, Bo Jackson, and Mickey Mantle. No one can live up to those kinds of comps, but Domínguez has been pretty dang if we say so ourselves.

Domínguez made his MLB debut in 2023 and was dominant before a UCL injury ended his season after just 33 plate appearances. An oblique injury in addition to the UCL limited him in 2024, but when on the field, the results were good. Spending the majority of the year in Triple-A, Domínguez slashed .314/.376/.504 with 11 home runs and 20 extra-base hits in 58 games. He stole 16 bases and was caught just once. While the MLB surface numbers were not great, Domínguez still put up quite strong numbers under the hood.

A few mechanical tweaks helped lead to the breakout in 2023, including limiting his leg kick and hand load.

The power is legit, as Domínguez posted a 90th percentile exit velocity of 108 mph, putting the power grade firmly plus or better. The contact rates also made a massive jump throughout his career. In the minors, Domínguez posted a 78 percent overall mark and an 89 percent in-zone contact rate. Those numbers carried over to the majors.

The speed has remained despite Domínguez’s body fluctuating in size throughout the early parts of his career. He stole 21 bases between the majors and minors and was caught just once.

Given how hard Domínguez hits the ball, he creates barrels often. People have been quick to point to his 62 percent ground ball rate in a small MLB sample, but it seems that it is primarily related to his oblique injury. For his career, that number has sat around 45 percent, a solid number given Domínguez’s batted ball profile. He is slated to be an everyday outfielder in 2025 for the Yankees and could be a favorite for AL Rookie of the Year.

FFG: Top-15 OF

90th Percentile Peak Outcome: .280/.370/30 HR/30 SB

Variance: High

Buy/Sell: Buy

New York Yankees Sleeper Prospect

10. Ben Shields, LHP, 26, 6’4”/210, AAA

It was a long journey for Shields to his MLB Draft date 2023. After beginning college in 2018 at the University of Massachusetts, Shields spent four years there before transferring to George Mason for the 2023 and 2023 seasons. Going unselected in the 2023 draft, Shields signed an undrafted free-agent deal with the Yankees.

Making his pro debut, Shields pitched 104.1 innings between High-A and Double-A, posting a 2.94 ERA while striking out 136 batters. Shields got a brief cameo in Triple-A in May, where he was BABIP’d to death and allowed nine runs in 1.2 innings. He was immediately sent back to High A.

The stuff with Shields is good, and he throws strikes at an impressive clip. Despite being older through his career trajectory, Shields can be fast-tracked and has proved he is durable and can handle innings.

He starts with a four-seam fastball that gets 6’7” of extension and sits around 92 mph. The fastball lacks stand-out traits, but Shields gets good arm-side movement on the pitch and has registered as high as 18 inches of IVB from a lower 5’6” release height.

The slider was used nearly as often as his fastball, sitting 81-82 mph, the same velocity band as his curveball. The two pitches are distinct, though, as both pitches have strong sweeping action, but the curveball has much more depth.

Considering Shields locates his pitches well and threw strikes at a rate north of 65 percent, well above average, he could profile as a backend starter. The track record is short, but Shields can pitch, which is much more important than his age. He could start 2025 in Triple-A and make his MLB debut at some point next season.

FFG: SP5/RP

90th Percentile Peak Outcome: 140 IP/3.80 ERA/140 K

Variance: High

Buy/Sell: Buy

New York Yankees 2025 Breakout Prospect

13. Edgleen Perez, C, 18, 5’10”/155, CPX

Being fairly young, Perez began the 2024 complex season as a 17-year-old but did not play like one. While having a short and stocky frame, Perez brings one of the best approaches in baseball to the plate.

Perez did not collect a hit in the game I saw him, but I was most impressed with his bat speed and eye at the plate. I am not sure I have ever seen an 18-year-old with the kind of pitch and strike zone recognition that Perez brings. Not having the data at the time, it was still clear. He had the lowest chase rate in the minors at seven percent.

While Perez does not chase often, he does get aggressive on pitches in the zone. In addition to having the lowest chase rate, he also had the highest in-zone minus out-of-zone swing rate. He made contact on 86 percent of swings in the zone and 83 percent overall. The power was also reasonably strong for a young hitter, checking in with a 101 mph 90th percentile exit velocity.

Just watch this video below. The bat speed is insane. Perez is hitting an impressive .283 on the year with a .824 OPS. He has walked more than he has struck out this year and has a strong 138 wRC+ with respectable exit velocities.

The body is a question mark for me, but Perez can swing it and get on base.

FFG: High OBP C

90th Percentile Peak Outcome: .270/.380/15 HR/2 SB

Variance: Medium

Buy/Sell: Buy