Yankees overlooked prospect is drawing Chandler Simpson comparisons amid rapid rise

Much of the focus on the prospect front for the New York Yankees has been on the blue-chippers. The early returns on George Lombard Jr. make him look like a star. Fans would be ecstatic to see Carlos Lagrange debut in the bullpen before the season is out. With that said, there are several other intriguing youngsters toiling in near-anonymity in the Yankees' system.

We've covered some of them in the past here. Tyler Hardman, Somerset's all-time hits leader, is a prime example. But even Hardman was once a known prospect. Today, we have an even deeper cut for you in the form of diminutive outfielder Luis Durango.

If you've never heard of Durango, we'll forgive you. He made his way into New York's system via the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft in December 2024. He went on to have a pretty subpar year in Hudson Valley in 2025, hitting just .258/.351/.268 over 40 games. That came after three years in the Cleveland Guardians system, where he mostly struggled in A-ball.

This season, though, Durango has been on the rise. While he began in Tampa, he has risen through Hudson Valley and to Somerset, conquering the competition at each level, drawing comparisons to the likes of Tampa Bay Rays speedster Chandler Simpson along the way.

The 23-year-old has hit a combined .338/.396/.411 across all three levels, including a scorching .375/.468/.450 over his first 16 games against Double-A competition. He also has a whopping 43 steals on the season.

Luis Durango swings like Ichiro and runs like Chandler Simpson, but his Yankees future is far from secure

Durango is an incredibly unique player in the way he approaches hitting. He chokes up on the bat and splits his hands slightly in the grip, using a softball-style step-up move in his swing that has him off and running for the left-handed batter's box, similar to Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki's iconic mechanics.

He's also unique in that he's refined his game to fully utilize his strengths. Durango slaps at the ball and intentionally hits it on the ground more often than not, recording a ground ball rate of 65.6% this season. That's up substantially from his career norms and has mostly come at the expense of fly balls, which he hits just 16.1% of the time, down significantly from his high-water mark of 30.4% back in 2024.

This all makes him completely devoid of home run power. As a pro, Durango has just three career dingers, with all three coming during his first professional season in 2021. Instead, he manufactures extra bases with a common formula: him beating out an infield hit before stealing second and third.

His play style is reminiscent of Simpson, and his approach is similar to what the Rays have tormented the Yankees with in the past, with bunt hits, stolen bases, and slow-rolling grounders putting pressure on the defense. After dealing with such a pesky approach from a hated division rival for so long, it's easy to see why Durango could be appealing.

He also rarely strikes out and has started walking at an above-average clip, giving him another way to get on base even when he's not making contact, which is something that he does often with an 88.1% contact rate overall.

We often see the Yankees offense go through strikeout-laden dry spells, and Durango could seem like a future antidote to the all-or-nothing woes.

However, despite the meteoric rise this season, there is still reason to pause. In addition to Durango's approach essentially being extinct in the modern MLB, his body type makes it hard to see how he can actually succeed at the highest level. A native of Panama, Durango measures in at just 5-foot-10, 135 pounds.

With that being said, if he keeps racking up hits and terrorizing the opposition on the basepaths, he'll eventually be impossible to deny. We likely won't see him in the majors in 2026, but he theoretically could start next season in Scranton and put himself in line for a 2027 debut if he keeps this up. If he does, he might go down as one of the Yankees' most out-of-nowhere finds in franchise history.

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