There are prospects that New York Yankees fans are extremely excited to see in the Bronx in the days ahead. But apparently there aren’t enough for prospect raters Keith Law or Kiley McDaniel.
The Yankees were given a bottom-half rating by both Law of The Athletic and McDaniel from ESPN, sitting No. 20 and No. 23 in their rankings that were unveiled Thursday.
The Yankees had two top-100 prospects in both man’s list, plus Law ranked 19-year-old shortstop Dax Kilby as his No. 101 overall prospect. Law had both shortstop George Lombard Jr. and pitcher Elmer Rodriguez in his top-100, whereas McDaniel rated Lombard and right-handed pitcher Carlos Lagrange on his list.
Law rated the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers and Seattle Mariners the Nos. 1-3 prospect pools on his list. McDaniel ranked the Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Guardians as his top three.
Keith Law Ranked The Yankees Prospects No. 20 Due To Their Lack Of Depth
Both Law and McDaniel acknowledge the number of graduations from the minors to the majors as a cause for their below-average rankings. Still, Law put the Yankees’ prospects 20th, in Tier 5 of his overall team rankings, for the lack of depth.
“The Yankees have two really high-end shortstop prospects, a big group of arms who are probably starters and then the system drops off pretty quickly, even with their well-deserved reputation for creating arms out of thin air,” Law wrote. “They have traded a ton of prospects in the last eight months, but nobody who would have been in their top 10 right now.”
Law noted Parks Harber, a 24-year-old slugger who New York let go in the deal with the San Francisco Giants for reliever Camilo Doval, as the best prospect the Yankees have traded of late.
But he also thinks the Yankees’ pitchers are their strongest suit and noted how Rodriguez and Lagrange could follow the line of Cam Schlittler, Luis Gil and Will Warren as young impact pitchers in the Bronx.
“They’ve kept all of their best guys,” Law wrote, “and should be able to supplement the big-league rotation with their own depth over the course of this year.”
Kiley McDaniel Called Spencer Jones ‘The Biggest Boom-or-Bust Prospect In the top-100’
McDaniel had the Yankees system ranked even lower, since like Law, he feels their system is top heavy. However, McDaniel noted the Yankees’ graduations.
“Ben Rice, Austin Wells, Jasson Dominguez, Cam Schlittler and Will Warren have graduated over the past few years,” McDaniel wrote. “The depth has been largely hollowed out, with some of the recent draftees and international signees making up all of the prospects of consequence.”
But Yankees fans looking for Spencer Jones — the 6-7, power-hitting outfielder who broke out as a 35-homer player at two levels in 2025 — will have to go down the list. McDaniel threw shade at his potential.
“Spencer Jones might be the biggest boom-or-bust prospect in the top 200,” McDaniel wrote.
Still, even with the glaring lack of depth, McDaniel noted the high-end Yankees prospects are worth waiting for.
“Dax Kilby is one of the biggest arrow-up 2025 draftees. Carlos Lagrange might be a reliever, but he’d be a good one,” McDaniel wrote “Elmer Rodriguez was a savvy acquisition (though giving up Carlos Narvaez was a high price), and Lombard should be a good every-day player, maybe better.”
Yankees Prospects Pool Get Low Ranking From Insiders