Yankees Make Decision on 103-mph No. 3 Prospect Before Orioles Doubleheader

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The Yankees made a decision on their 103-mph No. 3 prospect before an Orioles doubleheader, putting the highly rated pitcher in the spotlight.

The New York Yankees know their postseason plans. With the top American League wild-card spot secured they will face either the Boston Red Sox or the Cleveland Guardians at Yankee Stadium starting Sept. 29, with Boston being the more likely of the two potential opponents.

But nothing the Yankees do today affects what happens next Tuesday either way, making their weather-altered doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles, who were eliminated from postseason contention Thursday, totally meaningless.

With nothing to lose, the Yankees made a series of decisions Friday on how they will use the organization’s pitching resources for the end of the season.

The Yankees recalled two pitchers Friday ahead of their doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles, but they left their most electrifying arm on the outside looking in.

Carlos Lagrange, the flamethrowing right-hander whose fastball has touched 103 mph, watched Yankee Stadium get ready for a doubleheader from Triple-A instead of pitching in one. With New York’s playoff seeding already locked up, that absence raises an obvious question. Why exclude the system’s most explosive pitcher for games that decide nothing?

There was some speculation that Lagrange would be called up between games of the doubleheader, but Boone shut that down, saying, “It’s not real,” as quoted by Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News.

New York recalled right-handers Yerry De los Santos and Brendan Beck on Friday, optioning Luis Gil and Bradley Hanner in the same set of moves. Beck drew the Game 1 assignment on a day built around CC Sabathia, whose No. 52 will be retired in a pregame ceremony prior to Game 1.

Lagrange remains off the 40-man roster entirely, and that alone complicates any Friday cameo. Adding him would force a corresponding roster move, something the Yankees have avoided by leaning on Hanner and Beck, both of whom already occupy 40-man spots.

Lagrange’s Injury-Marred 2026 Season

The 23-year-old Dominican right-hander ranks third among Yankees prospects, a 6-foot-7, 248-pound arm signed for just $10,000 out of Bayaguana in February 2022. He broke out in 2025, striking out 168 batters over 120 innings between High-A Hudson Valley and Double-A Somerset, finishing third in the minors in strikeouts. His fastball, a 70-grade pitch on the traditional scouting scale, sits comfortably in the upper 90s when he’s healthy, with the occasional triple-digit reading up to 103 mph recorded.

This year was supposed to build on that breakout. Instead, the Yankees shifted Lagrange to the bullpen in June to speed his path to the Bronx, and for two weeks it worked beautifully: a 1.98 ERA and 12.5 strikeouts per nine innings over his first 13 2/3 relief innings. Then, on June 28, Lagrange allowed five runs in relief. Five days later, he landed on Triple-A’s injured list with a capsular sprain in his right shoulder.

He didn’t pitch again for nearly three months.

“We definitely view him long term as a starter,” manager Aaron Boone said back in June, quoted by MLB.com. “But in the 2026 lens, there’s a chance for him to potentially impact us out of the bullpen while not really disrupting anything moving forward.”

When Lagrange finally returned Sept. 16, he struck out two batters in a scoreless inning and topped out at 102.1 mph, proof nothing had been lost during the layoff.

Yankees’ Playoff Calculus On Carlos Lagrange

One sharp outing doesn’t erase three months of rust. Lagrange has thrown a single official inning since late June, and the Yankees have real bullpen innings to cover this weekend while setting their October staff. Handing a leverage inning to a rookie who hasn’t appeared in a game since before the trade deadline gains nothing in a series that no longer affects seeding or home-field advantage.

October changes the equation entirely. New York clinched its ninth playoff berth in 10 years on Sept. 14, and Lagrange, not Hanner, looks like the arm worth saving for the wild-card round.

“A grave mistake,” Yankees On SI‘s Joseph Randazzo wrote of the decision this week, arguing Hanner, who carries an 8.59 ERA and four home runs allowed in 7 1/3 innings, should never see another inning ahead of Lagrange.

Whether Boone agrees will be revealed by the postseason roster, not by this weekend’s box scores.

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