Yankees: 3 prospects poised for major breakouts in 2021

2. Oswald Peraza

Yes, he’s the Yankees’ No. 4 prospect, but he should soar much higher.

The Yankees’ pitching plan for 2021 involves tossing nine options at the wall, hoping five or six stick, and praying there’s a clear-cut No. 2 by October.

Whether you agree with it or not, it should be fairly easy to see a world where both Schmidt and Garcia have pitched too many innings at the big league level to qualify for any prospect lists this time next year.

Dominguez, pending pure foolishness, will be the team’s clear-cut No. 1 prospect and most projectable commodity. But the No. 2 spot is right there for the taking, and Peraza could earn that distinction if his power develops as anticipated during this calendar year, which will likely be spent vacillating between Tampa and High-A Hudson Valley.

Peraza’s often been the forgotten talent towards the top of the Yankees’ farm system — but not by the big boys like Baseball America, who could foresee his insertion at shortstop if Gleyber Torres struggles in the years to come, instead of a high-dollar infield addition.

Refreshingly, all reports indicate Peraza used his time off to refine the skills that will be most important to his development; respectfully, the Yankees will never hand their infield keys to an all-glove, no-hit option. Those days are long gone. Every Yankee on the diamond has to mash, to some degree.

The last time we saw Peraza in 2019, he cracked full-season ball by the end of the campaign, logging 46 games at Single-A Charleston and hitting .273 with a .348 OBP, displaying an advanced feel and comfort for the level. The next time we see him, he’ll be two years older and will bring a plan of powerful attack to the table, thanks to his longer-than-ever offseason of launch angle development.

15-20 homers at Hudson Valley isn’t unreasonable.

1. Luis Medina

Everybody’s talking about the Yankees’ highest-ceiling pitching weapon.

“Luis Medina might have the highest ceiling of any Yankees pitching prospect” might be the most overused line of the next several months.

But based on the evidence we have from this offseason, it seems that the toolsy Medina might’ve finally put everything together pitching for Team Dominican Republic in the Serie Del Caribe; he also earned Puerto Rican Winter League’s Pitcher of the Year award.

So why is Medina due for a breakout when we’re already entering 2021 at the height of his hype? Quite frankly, the righty has been…straight-up bad during his minor-league career.

In 2019, Medina uncorked two nasty starts at High-A Tampa (10.2 innings, 12 whiffs, 0.84 ERA), but largely got shelled at Low-A Charleston, posting a 6.00 ERA while racking up the strikeouts (115 in 93 innings pitched). The main problem in an extremely problematic season were the walks — Medina gave 67 batters a free trip to first base during that campaign.

The lanky righty spent all of 2020 at the team’s Alternate Site, being mentored by reliever Fernando Abad in an attempt to harness his unfair changeup and 100 MPH fastball into an arsenal that nicks the corners enough to thrive at higher levels.

Based on what we’ve seen all winter long, he’s far closer to reaching his ceiling, which might be a high-leverage reliever but could be a legitimate ace. The ceiling is the roof for Medina, who’s going to be a top-five talent in the system next year if all goes as expected.

Yankees: 3 notable players on 40-man roster that could still be traded

The New York Yankees could still be in the market for a big trade, which means a few guys on the current 40-man roster could be casualties.