Yankees top pitching prospect finally hit a hard speed bump in latest start

Ok, fine, universe! We heard you! We'll tone down the unceasing praise for 2024 New York Yankees first-round draft pick Ben Hess. We'll cease it for a little bit.

Hess, the hefty right-hander with the blazing fastball to match his confident personality, started his first pro season in mid-April by absolutely kicking the doors down and earning his No. 1-pitching-prospect-in-the-system status. He posted a 5.80 ERA with a contrasting 13.34 K/9 in his final season of college ball, then began his Yankees tenure by whiffing 18 in 9 2/3 innings, allowing five hits and zero earned runs.

Yup. That's right. You heard him. There's a new sheriff in town. A new sheriff who doesn't take kindly to base runners. The kind of sheriff whose fastball whistles louder than the — and oh, whoops, wait, he lost the strike zone entirely. L-let the sheriff get it back, maybe. Be cool to the sheriff.

Hess' third start represented a sobering reminder that, even for the elite, baseball is still really hard. Now, his ERA sits at a more normalized 3.38 after the Asheville Tourists drubbed him for four hits and six runs (five earned) in 3 2/3 road innings. He struck out four, sure, but he walked six.

Yankees minor-league ace Ben Hess finally had a throwback to his Alabama Crimson Tide days with poor start

The Yankees will have to hope it's just a blip on the radar and not a reversion to previous form. Clearly, Hess has the self-confidence to steer out of it, as long as it's only a mental hurdle in need of moderate adjustments. Last week, Hess noted that any pitcher who doesn't believe they're an ace has already lost the battle. That belief got dented a bit this week, surely, but he knows it's still within him.

After Jasson Domínguez officially graduated prospect status a few weeks back, Hess now ranks third in MLB Pipeline's assessment of the Yankees' system, behind only George Lombard Jr. and Spencer Jones (and ahead of Will Warren and fellow 2024 draftee Bryce Cunningham).

With the Yankees in desperate need of a minor-league pitching reset, Hess will have ample opportunity to take the baton and run with it this summer, leading the way in a consequential draft class. Check back in a few weeks, and hopefully we can forget any of this ever happened. He's still only 22.