Yankees: Estevan Florial among 21 non-roster invitees for Spring Training

The Yankees have invited 21 non-roster players to this years spring training including their top prospect Estevan Florial and veteran RHP Danny Farquhar.

It’s always interesting to see which non-roster players the Yankees invite to spring training. Usually, it’s a mixture of players who have a chance to fight for one of the final spots on the 25-man roster and prospects who will experience big league camp for the first time in their careers.

Of the 21 invitees, the Yankees will welcome to Tampa in less than two weeks nine of them have had prior big league experience. However, all of them face an uphill climb to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster. These players include RHP David Hale who saw limited action with the Yanks in 2018, Drew Hutchinson, a former promising starter with the Toronto Blue Jays, speedy outfielder Billy Burns, and the aforementioned Farquhar.

Farquhar has probably had the most big league success of the invitees as a reliever with the Mariners, Rays and the White Sox most recently. His story is also an inspirational one after he suffered a life-threatening brain hemorrhage after an appearance for Chicago on April 20th of last season. The fact that he’s made it all the way back to fight for the opportunity to make the Yankees roster is incredible and fans should all be rooting for him this spring.

For the second straight season Estevan Florial (the 57th best prospect in baseball per MLB Pipeline), will also be at camp. The 21-year-old Florial impressed last spring showcasing skills that have many believing he could one day be the Yankees everyday center fielder. He’s a legitimate five-tool guy, but he needs to cut down on his strikeouts and improve his plate discipline if he’s going to reach his full potential as a hitter.

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Another promising prospect to keep an eye on is RHP Michael King who burst on the scene in 2018 splitting time at A (Adv) Tampa, Double-A Trenton, and Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre. He finished the season with a combined record of 11-5 with a 1.79 ERA and 152 K’s in 161.1 IP. King was acquired after 2017 season from the Marlins for 1B Garrett Cooper and LHP Caleb Smith. He has quickly gone from being considered a lower-tier prospect to someone who could impact the Yankees starting rotation very soon.

Some of the Yankees top prospects who are on the 40-man roster that will be at camp include, RHPs Jonathan Loaisiga, Albert Abreu and Domingo Acevedo. Loaisiga, the organization’s second-best prospect, has a real shot to be a contributor at the big league level this season after he showed a lot of potential in four starts with the Yanks in 2018. The hard-throwing Acevedo projects to start the season at AAA and could make his big league debut sometime this summer.

Abreu was highly touted when the Yanks acquired him for Brian McCann, but injuries have limited him in the past two years and he’s fallen down in the team’s prospect rankings and off of MLB.com’s top 100 list. However, if he can stay healthy he still has a bright future ahead of him with his kind of stuff.