Yankees Add Pitching Prospect to 40-Man Roster

Vásquez, the Yankees' 14th-best prospect, is 24 and spent the 2022 season at Double-A.

With roster space to spare, the Yankees added just one player to their 40-man roster on Tuesday.

Right-handed pitcher Randy Vásquez got the nod, the team announced. The Rule 5 Draft-protecting move gives New York 38 players on its 40-man roster. That figure includes first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who officially re-signed with the Yankees on Tuesday, agreeing to a multi-year deal.

The 24-year-old Vásquez is the Yankees’ 14th-best prospect and sixth-best pitching prospect, per MLB Pipeline. He spent the entire 2022 season at Double-A Somerset, where he went 2-7 with a 3.90 ERA over 115.1 innings pitched and 25 starts. Vásquez added a 1.275 WHIP, 3.2 BB/9 and 9.4 K/9.

A native of the Dominican Republic, Vásquez tied for third in starts and ranked fifth in innings pitched among Yankees prospects last season. Baseball America ranked him as the Yankees’ ninth-best prospect and said he had the best curveball of any pitcher in New York’s farm system.

Signed by the Yankees as a non-drafted free agent on May 21, 2018, Vásquez has pitched in four professional seasons. He, like many minor leaguers, didn’t play affiliated baseball in 2020 when the MiLB season was canceled.

COMPLETE DOMINATION❗️@Yankees No. 15 prospect Randy Vasquez pitched 8 no-hit innings of a combined no-hitter in a championship clinching game.

His final line:
8⃣IP | 0⃣R | 0⃣H | 1⃣BB | 8⃣K#RepBX pic.twitter.com/1xqXVU2kJQ

— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) September 29, 2022

Vásquez is 15-13 with a 3.10 ERA and 9.7 K/9 over 307.2 frames, 68 games and 64 starts for his career.

The Yankees could have made additional 40-man roster additions, and therefore protected more players from the Rule 5 Draft, on Tuesday, but elected not to. Third baseman Andres Chaparro and catcher Josh Breaux were among the candidates who were left off the roster. 

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