This overlooked prospect seems poised for a Yankees spring training breakout

When it comes to pitching prospects, the New York Yankees are sitting on a gold mine. There's a little bit for everyone, with power arms, polished artists, and freakish talents throughout the otherwise light system.

This spring, many of them will be front and center. Six-foot-seven terror Carlos Lagrange will be bringing his 102 MPH heater to big league spring training for the first time, hoping to make a mark that will result in an eventual rise to the majors at some point in 2026.

Joining him will be Ben Hess, whose hype train keeps picking up steam. The prized Elmer Rodriguez will be there too, before he heads off to represent Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic.

Beneath the shine of all these prized right-handers, there will be another young arm working in big league camp looking to make a mark in southpaw Kyle Carr.

In a sea of impressive pitching prospects, young Yankees lefty Kyle Carr is poised for a spring breakout

Carr's route to the pros wasn't linear. In 2020, as a high schooler, he didn't pitch in his senior year after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He'd go on to the University of San Diego, but would throw just 16 total innings, red-shirting his freshman year and getting little run as a sophomore. That led him go the JuCo route, pitching at Palomar Community College before being selected in the third round by the Yankees in 2023.

Coming out of the draft, the young lefty possessed a sizzling fastball that sat in the mid-90s and could run up to 97, but his velocity was down as he made his pro debut in 2024, which also dampened his secondaries.

With a 4.76 ERA and diminished stuff at High-A Hudson Valley, his stock was trending down entering last season. Repeating High-A to begin 2025, Carr came out and looked like the player the Yankees thought they were selecting.

The 23-year-old made 22 starts and logged 119 1/3 innings, posting a redemptive 1.96 ERA. That led to a brief cup of coffee at Somerset, which saw him struggle over three starts.

Still, Carr put the injury concerns of 2024 behind him to regain his stuff, adding a cutter in the process. Alongside the cutter and blazing four-seamer, Carr also has a bowling ball sinker that helped him post a combined 50.7% ground ball rate, to go along with a sweeper and changeup.

That sounds like a starter-caliber arsenal. The young lefty seems to hit a wall when the competition levels up at first but then breaks through, so spring training will present an interesting challenge in his preparation for Somerset.

With a varied arsenal and the ability to consistently throw strikes, it will be interesting to see how his offseason work has helped him command the ball within the strike zone. A lack of refinement in that area contributed heavily to the more advanced Double-A hitters teeing off on him at the tail end of 2025.

If he can show growth in the spring, it can set up a run in Double-A that puts him on the map and would make him one of the few promising young Yankees hurlers who actually throw left-handed.