Yankees: 3 Surprises From 60-Man Player Pool Reveal

The New York Yankees released their player pool for the 2020 MLB season on Sunday.

With Spring Training Part II right around the corner, MLB teams were required to submit their 60-man player pools for the 2020 season on Sunday. These players will be eligible for the team at any point in the 60-game season as long as they aren’t removed between now and the end of the regular season.

For the Yankees, fans were certainly pleased with who the team decided to include, but there were still a few surprises (both good and bad) that caught us off guard. What were they?

Well, we think we know a few. Let’s take a look.

3. Carrying 6 Catchers

The Yankees are carrying SIX catchers on their 60-man player pool.

Sure, the catcher position is arguably the most demanding, but do the Yankees really need them consisting of 10% of the player pool? New York will bring the usual suspects in Gary Sanchez, Kyle Higashioka and Chris Iannetta, but the front office also included Erik Kratz, Josh Thole, and the newly-signed Max McDowell (did we really need him?). How many backups/reserves must there be for a 60-game season?! This would be more than understandable for a full slate, but El Gary should be catching just about every game with the exception of a few days of rest. If the Yanks wanted to do something interesting here, why not go for it all and throw Austin Wells into the mix if we’re so bullish on his bat? That would’ve been something to pique further interest from the fans.

2. The Addition of Matt Duffy

Remember Matt Duffy? For a hot second, Yankee fans collectively groaned when the San Francisco Giants opted to trade him to the Tampa Bay Rays in the Evan Longoria deal. Duffy was coming off a campaign in which he finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting (back in 2015) and displayed a pesky bat and defensive versatility. But in an unexpected turn, he fell off the face of the earth in Tampa, playing in just 199 games since August of the 2016 season. He had a pretty solid 2018, but that’s about it. The Yankees decided to add him on Sunday after signing him to a contract, and we’re not entirely sure what the appeal is here. Perhaps some intel on Tampa during a shortened season? Maybe. But with an infield jam packed with talent consisting of DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres, Gio Urshela, Luke Voit, Mike Ford, Tyler Wade, Miguel Andujar, Thairo Estrada and others, was there really a need for Duffy? We’re not going to complain about extra depth, but we thought we already had it. However, it does make a shred of sense considering beyond Estrada and Kyle Holder, the Yankees don’t have much infield talent ready for MLB action.