New York Yankees Non-Roster Invitee Profile: Trent Garrison

By Caleb Gebrewold | Mar 1, 2015

Next up on our series profiling non-roster Spring Training invitees is Trent Garrison. Garrison, a 24-year-old catcher, was drafted in the 28th round of the 2013 draft by the New York Yankees. Garrison, who turns 25 in May, spent all of 2014 at Class High-A Tampa, and did not hit much at all. He posted a slash line of .254/.310/.308.

Catcher is one of few positions that the Yankees have major league stability in Brian McCann, and a lot of depth in the minors, as evident by the Peter O’Brien trade. O’Brien hit a combined 34 home runs between High-A and Double A last year, yet was shipped off as there simply is not room for him on this team.

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Garrison is currently buried deep on the depth chart, and is pretty much an after thought at this point. Garrison is a year older than John Ryan Murphy and nearly three years older than catcher of the future Gary Sanchez. While Murphy, Austin Romine, or even Sanchez could presumably be traded, Garrison has a long way to go before the big leagues even become a thought.

Garrison threw out 29% of would be base stealers last season, and had a .988 fielding percentage, both decent numbers. He also has his struggles behind the plate, as he recorded 11 past balls, which would have tied him for fourth in the big leagues last year, as three players tied with 12. The problem here is that he played only 82 games behind the dish, so stretched out that number would increase.

While it is not uncommon for a young backstop, especially one still learning a staff, to record many past balls, combined with his weak bat, Garrison likely will not warrant big league consideration for a few years. While Garrison is said to have a big arm, an arm alone does not lead a player to make the jump from Class High-A Tampa to New York.

It is likely that he will begin the season back in Tampa, and maybe he can slowly work his way to the big leagues a couple of years down the line. While at 25, Garrison is older than most Class-A prospects, he is only entering his third year of professional baseball, so it might be a bit premature to label him a non-prospect, however, he must show improvements in 2015.

While Garrison could eventually work his way on to a major league roster, 2015 will not be the year that happens. If he is catching games in the Bronx this year, that means the Yankees are battling many catching injuries and likely struggling.

Next: Mark Teixeira finds an unconventional way to beat the shift

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