The New York Yankees were set to open a three-game series at Yankee Stadium against the Toronto Blue Jays Friday, as New York looked for its fifth win in a row.
The Yankees planned to send their Cy Young candidate Cam Schlittler to the mound against Toronto, to be opposed by Blue Jays left-hander Mason Fluharty.
Before the game on Friday, the Yankees announced a roster move with a 26-year-old catcher, placing the 10-year minor league veteran who has yet to make his big league debut on the temporarily inactive list.
That catcher is Abrahan Gutierrez, and the timing of his removal adds an odd wrinkle to an otherwise good week for the organization. He had only just returned from a separate assignment days earlier, and now New York’s catching depth at the top of the farm system sits in flux with roughly six weeks left in the minor league season.
What the Inactive List Means for Abrahan Gutierrez
GettyCatcher Abrahan Gutierrez was placed on the temporary inactive list Friday.
The temporarily inactive list is a minor-league-only designation, reserved for players who need excused time away from the club for reasons that have nothing to do with injury. Family medical emergencies, bereavement, paternity leave, delayed reporting and other personal matters all qualify, according to roster rules.
Neither the RailRiders nor Gutierrez has publicly detailed the reason behind Friday’s move. A stay on the list must last at least three days, and the player cannot suit up for games during that window. The designation is distinct from the injured list, which covers physical ailments and carries its own separate roster rules.
Crucially, the move frees a roster spot for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre without erasing Gutierrez from the organization’s control, since he still counts against the Yankees’ minor league reserve list rather than the RailRiders’ active roster. Pay is typically left to the club’s discretion, and reinstatement must generally happen before the minor league season ends.
This marks Gutierrez’s second roster shuffle in a week. He was moved to the Development List on August 14 and activated from it again on August 19, only to be sidelined once more two days later, according to MLB.com.
Abrahan Gutierrez’s Long Road Through Three Organizations
Gutierrez, a 26-year-old right-handed hitting catcher born in Caracas, Venezuela, has bounced through a winding professional journey since signing with the Atlanta Braves as a teenager in July 2016. He later caught on with the Philadelphia Phillies, whose system he climbed for several seasons before Pittsburgh acquired him in a July 2021 trade that sent left-hander Braeden Ogle back to Philadelphia.
The Pirates released Gutierrez in August 2025 after injuries limited his playing time at Triple-A Indianapolis. He signed a minor league deal with the Athletics that December, only to be selected by the Yankees in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 Draft days later. New York gave him a non-roster invitation to spring training before reassigning him to minor league camp in February.
This season has been a tale of two levels. Gutierrez hit .305 in a brief stint with Double-A Somerset before scuffling to .162 in limited Triple-A action, according to figures tracked by Baseball Savant. His career minor league line sits at .260 with modest power across 11 different teams, and he has yet to make his major league debut.
Once reinstated, Gutierrez returns to organizational depth behind a Yankees catching pipeline that already runs deep. Nothing in the transaction language suggests a release or demotion beyond the temporary absence, but at 26 and without a big league at-bat to his name, his path forward remains an uphill climb.
Yankees Announce Roster Move With 26-Year-Old Catcher Before Blue Jays Game