New York Yankees: Four sleeper candidates to make the Opening Day roster

UTI Rosell Herrera

The Yankees MVP of Spring Training so far has to be the 27-year-old Herrera and it’s not even close. After signing with the Yanks on a minor league deal in January Herrera entered camp as a longshot to make the club who’d likely start the year at Triple-A. That still might be the case but it shouldn’t be if he continues to stay red hot at the plate.

Herrera leads the team with 9 hits and has a batting average of .563 in 16 at-bats. He’s got three doubles, a triple and four RBI with an OPS of 1.463. In addition to swinging the bat extremely well (as a switch hitter), Herrera has opened up a lot of eyes with his speed on the bases and his ability to play up to six positions. In the infield, he’s been playing some third and second base, but he’s another guy who could be in the outfield mix at one of the corner spots.

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Tyler Wade and Thairo Estrada entered camp as the favorites to be the backup middle infielder off the bench but Wade has really struggled offensively so far with two hits in 19 at-bats. Estrada has six hits in 21 at-bats with five RBI. One thing that could give them an edge over Herrera is the fact that they’re already on the 40-man roster. In order to make the team, the Yanks would have to clear up a roster spot which is something they might be hesitant to do.

Still, there’s no doubt Herrera has put himself in a good position to be considered because of his versatility. Before joining the Yankees he spent the majority of his pro career in the minors but he has appeared in 149 games during stints with the Marlins, Royals, and Reds. He’s still relatively young so there’s reason to believe that his play so far this spring is no fluke and his best days in the majors are ahead of him.

The Yankees have been great at finding diamonds in the rough like Luke Voit, Mike Tauchman and Gio Urshela over the past couple of years so Herrera could be next. I don’t know who they would cut to make room for him on the roster, but he’d be a very intriguing addition to the club.