Yankees need to replace Luke Voit with Ryan McBroom

Acquired from the Blue Jays for Rob Refsnyder, 26-year-old Ryan McBroom has played exceptionally well across two levels of minor league ball this season. It’s about time the Yankees swapped out Luke Voit for him.

If you happen to be a Yankees fan unfamiliar with the name Ryan McBroom, it’s about high time you did.

Originally drafted by the Blue Jays in the 15th round of the 2014 MLB Draft out of West Virginia University, the Yanks acquired McBroom, who is capable of playing first base and both corner outfield positions, for former prospect Rob Refsnyder.

In only 38 games at Double-A Trenton in 2017, McBroom was serviceable at best — slashing .257/.327/.379 with four home runs and 16 RBI in 140 at-bats.

Beginning the 2018 season, McBroom was placed at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. And despite hitting .269 during his first two months of action with the RailRiders, he was sent back to Trenton in order to play more first base.

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From June 1-29, the 6-foot-3, 235-pound McBroom was shuttled between New Jersey and Pennsylvania on two separate occasions. Now though, all that travel is in the rearview mirror, as McBroom has proven himself MLB ready on both sides of the ball.

Across 82 games (305 at-bats) for the RailRiders, McBroom is hitting .308/.346/.472 with 41 runs scored, 15 doubles, 11 home runs and 40 RBIs. When combined with his 25 games of production at Trenton, McBroom’s stats are stupendous: .312/.354/.482 with 54 runs, 20 doubles, 15 homers and 54 RBIs in 407 total at-bats.

If McBroom hadn’t already made it clear to the Yankees that he’s primed to make his big league debut, he cemented his claim on Saturday when he went 3-for-5 with four RBIs — his second consecutive game with a big fly. 

An exceptional defender at three positions, McBroom has only made a total of three errors all season — two of which came at first base in Trenton. He’s now compiled 77 outfield putouts in 328.1 innings and 433 putouts across 500 frames at first base for an elite-level .988 and .996, respective, fielding percentage. 

With Luke Voit doing little to impress — who let’s face it, was a secondary trade chip from the Cardinals (international bonus pool money being No. 1), the need for McBroom is now.

Now, yes, Voit has only played four games for the Yankees (12 at-bats), but in the midst of a playoff push, trotting out a career minor leaguer only able to muster .174/.269/.304 with two RBIs does little to strike fear in the opposition.

Whether or not the Yankees wait another two and a half weeks to call up McBroom once the rosters expand, they’ll still need to add him to the 40-man roster — meaning someone has to come off.