Latest ranking reveal Yankees farm system on the rise.

All the major prospects lists are out there, and with spring training getting underway, it’s the ideal time to look at how industry evaluators see the Yankees’ farm system. Hopefully, we’ll learn a thing or two about the outlook of the future cornerstones of this team.

When discussing Yankees prospects these days, the conversation revolves around two high-profile hitters, Spencer Jones and Jasson Domínguez. Everything from the differences between them, any potential similarities, and inevitably, the preferences of each evaluator. For the purposes of this article, we’ll take a look at the Yankees in the Top 100 of five different lists, each with its unique perspective.

Before getting into specifics, a few details to point out. As a whole, ESPN has the most favorable list for the Yankees, including five different prospects, while ZiPS, MLB Pipeline, and The Athletic all come in with three apiece. Interestingly enough, the consensus is minimal among those three, with only Domínguez being present in as many as two of them.

It’s astonishing to take a step back and focus on the career arc of Jasson Domínguez, and how his stock finds himself in a weird place right now. Domínguez burst onto the scene with hype reserved for the one percent of the one-percenters. The man was touted as the next big thing. Fast-forward a few years and despite producing at virtually every turn, Domínguez finds himself in a wide range of spots on lists, from the 21st overall according to The Athletic and ESPN to outside the top 50 with FanGraphs. Domínguez held his own at every level despite being much younger than the competition and earned a call-up to the bigs last year, after putting up a 118 wRC+ in AA.

Looking across the board, there doesn’t seem to be much in terms of question marks around Domínguez’s power and plate discipline. The points of worry that drives him down in the FanGraphs list revolves around his future home defensively and his contact skills, whereas other evaluators have a more optimistic outlook about both of those things. It’s important to note that Domínguez saw an evolution in his contact rate across last season.

The often-made comparison between Jones and Domínguez is a subject that Esteban Rivera talked about a while back here. It is evident by looking at the five lists that FanGraphs is somewhat going out on a limb with the gap between Jones and Domínguez, which isn’t seen anywhere else. Jones had to deal with a bit of a late development by working as a two-way player, even in his early days at Vanderbilt. However, Domínguez also had issues dealing with the COVID-19 restraints during the early stages of his pro career.

Jones certainly carries a lot more raw power and a bigger projection because even though Domínguez is younger, his build, as far as projectable power, seems maxed out at this point. On the other side of the ball, it’s too early to know how much of a ceiling Jones has defensively. If it is optimistic to look at Domínguez handling center field through his big league career, the same could be said about Jones.

While there aren’t questions about Jones’ power, one could still argue he has ways to go in maximizing that part of his game, particularly working on optimizing his swing. In Jones’ first full year in the minors, he had an ISO below .200 in A+, which isn’t shocking when your groundball rate is coming in at 46.0 percent. Both of these players carry tremendous upside, but they also come with some warning signs, and that’s probably the only thing keeping them out of the absolute cream of the crop in prospect lists.

Domínguez has showcased more over a longer period, which isn’t necessarily Jones’ fault, as he simply followed a very different career path. The important point is that the Yankees have the makings of two gems here, and it’s up to the front office to maximize the raw tools of both of these guys. How valuable as a whole they end up being due to defensive work and on the basepaths remains to be seen. However, one can’t deny the potential of these two bats.

Addressing smaller notes on the other names in those lists, you may have been thrown off by the Trey Sweeney trade, but ZiPS seems to appreciate the value of Jorbit Vivas’ hit tool. The infielder acquired from the Dodgers isn’t a very flashy prospect, but looking at how the Yanks struggled to find serviceable bats for small roles last season, Vivas might be a name to come up at some point in 2024. Vivas had struggles on a small sample in AAA, this after running a 123 wRC+ in 491 plate appearances in Double-A, with a walk rate (11.0 percent) above his strikeout rate (10.6).

If you’re looking for a name that might make a big jump in 2024 across the Yankees’ system, look no further than Roderick Arias. Arias showcased his power and speed potential with 17 SBs and a slugging percentage above .500 in 130 PA. The young shortstop is also rated very well defensively and hopes to have his first healthy year in 2024. He’s a long way from the show, but the Yankees have held out on including him in trade negotiations despite this for a reason — they see the potential for a big time prospect, and the industry generally agrees.

This is a fascinating baseline for the Yankees’ system to be at entering the year, especially considering where they ranked overall just a few years ago. Despite being aggressive in trading a lot of the team’s upper-level prospects in 2021 and 2022, the organization has replenished itself at a rate that few in the game can claim to surpass, sliding in at a tier just below the likes of the Rays, Dodgers, Braves, and Orioles. This year looks to be as close to an all-in scenario as we’ve seen in this era of the team’s core, and a continuation of the success they’ve found down on the farm could make or break their push forward.