Former Yankees top prospect you definitely forgot about hit with PED suspension

Who among us doesn't have ridiculously fond memories of the 2016 Yankees' Top 10 Prospects list? The team on the field floundered, so all we had to keep us warm at night was a numbered and ordered reminder that better days could be ahead. The Yankees then sold heavily at the deadline, and things got even brighter! Gary Sánchez was called up! Dillon Tate was in the system now! 2017 was going to be the first year of the best years of our lives!

And then it was. And then the rest was ... well, the true sickos are back to checking top prospects lists instead of box scores.

In retrospect, that 2016 season-opening list wasn't really so juicy after all. The names we were dreaming on included Aaron Judge, sure, but the higher floor and added potency seemed to come from Jorge Mateo. On the mound, it was James Kaprielian. Dustin Fowler and Rob Refsnyder seemed like lower-ceiling options, but solid big-league depth, potentially even regulars.

And then there was burly flamethrower Domingo Acevedo, who began the year ranked No. 7 (MLB Pipeline) before being squeezed down to No. 14 pre-2017 because of the influx of new talent (sorry, Domingo, but Justus Sheffield, Blake Rutherford and Clint Frazier were simply undeniable).

Most Yankees fans would be hard-pressed to believe Acevedo was still in the ranks of pro ball these days, but they received a stark reminder on Wednesday. Good news: He's still kicking in the Rockies system at Triple-A!

Bad news: He's 34 years old and is about to miss 80 games after being popped for PEDs.

Domingo Acevedo's wild ride took him from Yankees' Futures Game rep to PED suspension

Acevedo never made the majors with the Yankees, though he seemingly posted the same numbers annually throughout the minors: mid-3.00s to mid-4.00s ERA, not quite enough strikeouts for his ridiculous frame, but still solid.

He didn't find his way to the bigs until the A's came calling post-pandemic; he appeared in 10 games with them in 2021, 70 in 2022 (with a 3.33 ERA and 50 hits allowed in 67 2/3 innings!), and nine bleak ones in 2023 before petering out, doing the bulk of his work in winter leagues and trying to make it back. His 2026 campaign with Triple-A Albuquerque was no more distinguished than his last MLB cameo, and now he's likely to struggle upon restarting his search for employment.

That 2016 Yankees system produced a surprising amount of big-leaguers — and hell, the Yankees might even encounter Mateo again when the Braves come to town. For now, though, the energy lies with Acevedo, and it's distinctly negative.

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