Yankees top pitching prospect can save incredibly dull first spring lineup of 2026

Here it is, New York Yankees fans. It's the start of spring training games. The Bombers are traveling to Sarasota face the division-rival Baltimore Orioles in their first action of 2026. Early Friday morning, the team dropped its lineup for the 1:05 p.m. ET game.

And ... we've got absolutely nothing? More than half of the lineup features players we probably will not see at all this coming season (and others who surely won't be with the organization in a few weeks/months). It's not exactly a surprise since the team has a home game on Saturday against the Tigers, but we can't say this "excites" anybody for the return of baseball just yet.

Austin Wells, Jazz Chisholm, Jose Caballero and Amed Rosario are here ... but then we have Ernesto Martinez Jr., Marco Luciano, Duke Ellis (he's still around?), Kenedy Corona and Ali Sanchez making up the rest of the group.

The only thing fans should really be looking forward to? Top pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez taking the mound against the O's as the right-hander looks to become part of the MLB roster at some point this year.

Everybody already knew Rodriguez was starting after it was announced on Thursday (and we had an idea for about a week now), though, so there were hopes of at least something worthwhile with the lineup.

Yankees release first spring training lineup of 2026 against Orioles in Sarasota

Fans already knew Aaron Judge wouldn't be in this lineup because Aaron Boone said he'd be debuting on Saturday. Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger surely aren't traveling for the first game of the year. To be honest, though, we thought we'd see one of Jasson Dominguez or Spencer Jones here. Max Schuemann, anybody?

Nonetheless, if we really wanted to find ways to be invested here, there are a few angles. Luciano is a former top-10 prospect in baseball who fell into the Yankees' lap. He'll be used as Triple-A depth in 2026, but could be called upon in case of an emergency or if he rediscovers his stroke.

Sanchez is a right-handed hitting catcher who could potentially make life uncomfortable for JC Escarra given the redundancy of two lefty-hitting backstops. Corona is a former Astros top prospect who slugged 20 homers at Double-A back in 2023. Martinez Jr. was reportedly close to making his MLB debut last season with the Brewers after a solid showing at Triple-A.

That's all we got. Next step? Consume the baseball. It's back, and the road to 28 begins now.