Yankees Outright Infielder Donovan Solano Off 40-Man Roster

The New York Yankees have announced their decision to outright utility infielder Donovan Solano from their 40-man roster Monday.

The New York Yankees cleared their fifth 40-man roster spot since the end of September on Monday with the decision to outright Donovan Solano off of their 40-man roster. The team has previously released pitchers J.R. Graham and Anthony Swarzak, as well as allowing relievers Blake Parker and Kirby Yates to depart via waiver claims.

Solano put together an excellent season for Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre, hitting .319/.349/.436 with seven home runs in 546 plate appearances while splitting his time pretty evenly between second and third base. He was named to the International League All-Star squad for his efforts and was a major contributor to the Railriders’ 93-50 run and eventual International League and Triple-A championships.

The 28-year-old utility infielder was an unlikely candidate for a September promotion, but eventually did receive the call when starting second baseman Starlin Castro went down with a hamstring injury.

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Solano appeared in nine contests down the stretch for the big league club, going 5-for-22 with a homer and two doubles while providing the team with solid defense at the keystone. It appeared there was at least some chance the organization would retain him as the utility infielder, but if he decides to elect free agency (as is his right because of his level of service time), that becomes much less likely.

With four seasons of MLB experience under his belt from 2012-2015, Solano would have been arbitration eligible this winter if New York had kept him, which may have been the deciding factor. The organization already has a younger and cheaper player with the same skill set for in-house for next year in 23-year-old Ronald Torreyes.

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Overall, Solano has a .257/.306/.331 (76 OPS+) batting line over 370 career games with significant experience at three infield positions. He seems like a solid bet to land a big league utility infielder job somewhere next year after his strong performance