Tampa, FL: Yankees' George Lombard a home run during a spring training game on March 1, by Thomas RM via Michael Zeno is a writer for Pinstripe is a college student at Penn State University and writes for Posting ; Toasting and Onward will forever believe in Gleyber week, the Yankees' minorleague season officially began in Buffalo, where the TripleA ScrantonWilkesBarre RailRiders opened their season with a shutout victory over the RailRiders will be priority viewing all season for those who like to keep up with the minor leagues for multiple there are still intriguing prospects that aren't quite on the cusp of debuting in the major leagues and are looking to put one foot in front of the other to get noticed and put on the pinstripes in the 's what brings us to DoubleA Somerset, entering its sixth season as a Yankees , you'll even see some players in DoubleA who become polished enough that they spend minimal time at the next level Cam Schlittler notably only had five starts at TripleA last year after getting the first bump up from ticket to The Show could be closer than you of last year's biggest names are out the door, whether traded or up in TripleA, but the headliner joins him?The catching will be done in a split between arguably the organization's best remaining homegrown backstop and a nonroster Palencia was playing in the FCL just 10 months ago, but was aggressively promoted as several midseason trades cleaned out the farm's catching depth with Rafael Flores Jr., Jesus Rodriguez, and Edgleen Perez all going out the 's bat was predictably poor in 37 combined games in HighA and DoubleA https://www.newyorkfanoutlet.com/Bobby_Murcer_Jersey, but the 23yearold gets a clean slate Palma, signed from the Astros' organization in December, is also not known for his bat, so don't expect a ton of offense the infield, the star attraction is the Yankees' No.1 prospect, George Lombard Jr., who figures to be the everyday got off to a strong start to 2025 in HighA Hudson Valley, but predictably encountered growing pains when he was promoted in May https://www.newyorkfanoutlet.com/Elmer_Cruz_rodriguez_Jersey, enduring arguably the minors' most challenging jump for prospects to 's a seismic difference between the quality of play in HighA and , Lombard registered a respectable 1 wRC+ with good plate discipline, but they'd like for him to make more contact and tap into his course, his most mature trait has been pictureesque: his rest of the infield features allornothing thumper Tyler Hardman, Coby Morales, and Owen and Morales have experience at this level, but Cobb is new after just nine games in HighA last was LowA Tampa's most consistent hitter for much of 2025, hitting.310 in 40 24yearold Stanford graduate will be down here is former Giants top prospect Marco Luciano, who should play a few different are a few interesting names in the saw a lot of Kenedy Corona in spring training, a normally lighthitting defensive specialist who was signed out of the Astros' Avinaonce acquired from Milwaukee for Jake Bauerstore up Aball with impressive game power, but struggled with League MVP Nick Torres will look to restart his MLB Martin hasn't quite figured it all out yet, but the former undrafted free agent puts up some startling exit velocity numbers, and we saw as much in spring rotation is headlined by one of the team's best pitching prospects in former firstround pick Ben Hess, who will start on Opening Day.A project arm out of Alabama, the Yankees have cleaned up Hess' command and turned him into a viable starting pitching prospect, but good upside as a reliever with some filthy to longterm injuries to Chase Hampton eyeing a midseason return from Tommy John surgery last year and Brock Selvidge who just went under the knife himself, the rotation after that lacks star power but has several reliable Rivas finished 2025 extremely well in HighA and was Smith missed much of 2025, but the former sixthround pick has turned heads when healthy, recently recording a 2.13 ERA in the Arizona Fall 26yearold undrafted free agent Trent Sellers was a reliable mainstay in last year's bullpen will feature some Aball stars and some holdovers from the upper minors last Reyzelman was once on the fast track to the majors, but the LSU product couldn't find the strike zone in Scranton last year, so expect him to move back up if he starts Dees and Michael Arias also come down from Scranton to join the likes of Will Brian, Chris Kean, Geoffrey Gilbert, Matt Keating, and Hayden year's best MiLB reliever, Hueston Morrill, is on the shelf to start the year after a sub1 ERA in injuries limit the potential of this rotation to be as good as some of the ones in the past, but it's not ridiculous to say we could see the currently injured Hampton and Bryce Cunningham up here with Hess, Smith https://www.newyorkfanoutlet.com/Masahiro_Tanaka_Jersey, and Rivas by the hitting depth in the system beneath Scranton is pretty shallow, especially after the recent Ryan Weathers trade saw 2024 draft reinforcements Dillon Lewis and Brendan Jones go to 's ample reason to get out to Somerset for a game if you're in the area, particularly at the shortstop position.