Fire-breathing Yankees prospect inexplicably left off MLB's updated Top 100 list
What are we doing here?
The meaty middle of the Yankees' Top 30 prospect list has overperformed nicely to begin 2024, but based on MLB Pipeline's May update to their Top 100, fans shouldn't expect any major movement, no matter how powerful the exit velocities.
Pipeline introduced their update this week, and while everyone lags behind the Chicago Cubs and their eight top-100 names, the Yankees weren't treated shabbily, taking home four honors. Jasson Dominguez continued to lead the pack at No. 32, with all eyes on him as he prepared for a rehab assignment. The Martian was followed by Spencer Jones at No. 70 (?), an injured Chase Hampton at No. 76, and teenaged shortstop Roderick Arias at No. 89.
Notably still absent, though? Catcher Agustin Ramirez, the greatest thing since Gary Sánchez and the No. 1 five-alarm power fire in the Eastern League.
If ever a previously unheralded player was going to make a Top-100 leap, it's Ramirez and it's going to happen right now; his below-the-hood stats are nuts, and his 11 homers in 108 at-bats (at age 22) are certainly noteworthy. Unfortunately, he started the season with too big a deficit to make up, ranking (wait, what?!) 20th on the Yankees' team-specific Top 30.
Alright, fine. It's going to be a while before he receives national recognition. It shouldn't be! But it will be.
Yankees' Agustin Ramirez fails to find his way onto MLB's Top 100 Prospects list
Ramirez is mired in a crowded catching picture in the upper levels of the Bombers' farm system, stuck at Double-A behind Carlos Narvaez and Luis Torrens.
It's quite likely that Ramirez has the highest big-league upset of the Yankees' 40-man roster catching quartet, thinned out slightly by Ben Rortvedt's departure, but not quite enough for the 22-year-old slugger to get a Scranton look just yet.
The longer major publications sleep on him, the better, though. The worst thing to happen to Sánchez was the hype train attached to him from his teenaged years through his Summer '16 scorcher. Ramirez also has the benefit of Jose Trevino playing his role to perfection while Austin Wells' hard contact has begun to turn into doubles at the MLB level. Yankee fans can be patient here -- and it's preferable the spotlight is away from him for the time being.