Yankees: Jasson Dominguez is the top prospect in the system according to Baseball America

With a little under a month to go before pitchers and catchers report to Tampa for Spring Training it’s time to take a look at Baseball America’s list of the Yankees top 10 prospects heading into the 2020 season.

The Yankees farm system last season wasn’t nearly as highly regarded as it was a couple of years ago, but it looks like that’s about to change entering 2020.

Throughout the Yankee system, the future looks very bright but as it is with every organization, there are prospects who stick out more than the rest and project to impact the major league roster sooner rather than later. Here are some of the names to keep an eye in 2020.

First, the top 10:

1. OF Jasson Dominguez
2. RHP Clarke Schmidt
3. RHP Deivi Garcia
4. RHP Luis Gil
5. INF Oswald Peraza
6. INF Anthony Volpe
7. RHP Luis Medina
8. RHP Roansy Contreras
9. RHP Alexander Vizcaino
10. RHP Albert Abreu

Atop Baseball America’s list is 16-year-old CF Jasson Dominguez, who hasn’t even played in a professional game yet. Although Dominguez isn’t someone who is going to impact the major league club this season or the next there’s no doubt he is going to be a fast riser that could make his debut before he turns 20. The switch-hitting phenom has all the tools to be a superstar and could be a generational talent according to scouts.

Dominguez was the top international prospect available in the 2019 class before the Yankees signed him last July to a record $5.1M deal. He’s been given nicknames like the “teenage Mike Trout” and “The Martian” so expectations for him coming up through the Yankee system are going to be sky-high, but for good reason.

BA gave Dominguez a grade of at least 60 (20-80 scale) in every skillset and a 70 when it comes to power and running. Those are the types of grades you usually see for a player in the upper levels of the minors. The fact that he’s already considered the Yankees top overall prospect tells you all you need to know about how incredibly talented this kid is and what the future could hold for him in pinstripes.

Following Dominguez on the list is righthander Clarke Schmidt, the Yankees first-round pick in 2017. Schmidt missed most of the 2018 season recovering from Tommy John surgery but last year he was healthy and at three minor levels he combined to post a 3.47 ERA with 102 K’s in 90.1 IP.

After starting the year in the Gulf Coast league he made it all the way to Double-A Trenton by August. Scouts are very high on the former USC Gamecock and recently he made MLB.com’s list of potential breakout prospects for all 30 teams. He has the makings of four-plus pitches so he’s built to be a starter at the big league level and could earn a consistent spot int he rotation in 2021.

Now that he’s over two years removed from TJ surgery this will be the year where he makes his biggest move up the Yankee system. As long as he stays healthy and continues to progress Schmidt will make it Triple-A very quickly and will have a real shot at a late-season call up to the big league roster.

Third on the list is Deivi Garcia, who many considered the organization’s top prospect at the end of last season. Garcia rose to the top of the Yankees farm system in 2019 after beginning the year at A-Advanced Tampa. After posting a combined 4.28 ERA in 111 innings with a 13.3 K per 9 rate at three different levels the 20-year-old right-hander was added to the Yankees 40-man roster in late November.

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He’ll likely start the year at Triple-A but if he impresses in spring training and someone from the rotation goes down with an injury he could be the first in line for a call up to join the big league rotation. Garcia stands at only 5’9, 163 lbs but he has electric stuff with a fastball that can reach up to 96 mph and a devastating 12/6 curveball.

He needs to work on throwing all of his pitches for strikes consistently before he makes his big league debut, but he has a major league starter’s repertoire. As long as he stays healthy it’s not a matter of if, but when before we see him this season in the Bronx making a big impact as a rookie.

The biggest surprise on the list has to be the number five entrant Oswald Peraza and the exclusion of CF Estevan Florial. The 19-year-old Peraza is a slick-fielding infielder who has yet to play above low-A ball and ended last season ranked as the 29th best prospect by MLB.com. However, Baseball American sees big things ahead for him and so do the Yankees.

As for Florial, he’s has fallen off the list after he’d been considered one of the Yankees top prospects for the past two seasons. 2019 was another injury-plagued campaign for the 21-year-old and he struggled to produce offensively hitting .237 with 8 HR, 38 RBI and 98 K’s in just 74 games.

Despite his struggles, Florial is now a member of the Yankees 40-man roster and this could be a make or break year for him. He has all the tools to be successful but he hasn’t been able to put it all together on a consistent basis. He was supposed to take a big leap up the system last season so hopefully he can stay healthy and finally live up to expectations in 2020.