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RAB’s Midseason Grades for the 2025 Yankees
🕑 Added 2025-07-14 10:00:10 +0000 UTC
At 53-43, the Yankees entered the All-Star break two games behind the Blue Jays in the loss column and four games up on a Wild Card spot. They have baseball’s ninth best record and second best run differential (+111). It has been a season of streaks, including a hideous 6-16 stretch from June 13th to July 5th. And yet, the Yankees are right there in the AL East race, even as flawed and imperfect as they are.
"Incomplete. There's obviously been a lot of good, there's been two weeks where we really struggled,” Aaron Boone said when asked to summarize his team’s first half on Sunday (video). “We set out in Spring Training and the start of the year to get back to the playoffs and go chase after a world title, and all those hopes and dreams are right there just for us. If nothing else, we’ve put ourselves in a position that that is something that is attainable for us. Long way to go still. We gotta keep getting better, but we’re in position to do what we need to do.”
Here’s where the Yankees rank in all the stuff that matters through the traditional first half of the season:
Runs scored per game: 5.22 (3rd in MLB)
Runs allowed per game: 4.06 (13th)
AVG: .256 (4th)
OBP: .336 (1st)
SLG: .455 (1st)
wRC+: 120 (1st)
ERA: 3.82 (13th)
ERA+: 107 (14th)
FIP: 3.90 (12th)
DRS: +36 (4th)
OAA: -3 (18th)
SP WAR: +7.7 (10th)
RP WAR: +1.9 (16th)
Position player WAR: +22.1 (2nd)
The bullpen is leakier than it has been in several years and the Yankees are stretched to the limit of their rotation depth, but the offense is really good and really deep (I know they stunk this past weekend). Last year it was top heavy with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto doing the heavy lifting. This year the Yankees have more good players than lineup spots. That said, they remain sloppy on the bases and in the field. It bites them too often.
I started doing these midseason grades two years ago only because I had the itch that summer, and now they’re an annual thing. I’ve never followed them up with end-of-season grades though. Last year’s excuse was the deep postseason run and jumping right into the offseason. We’ll see how this season goes. Maybe I’ll circle back in a few months and go through the end-of-season grades exercise.
These grades are intended to reflect performance to date in the context of preseason expectations, so not everyone’s baseline is the same. Exceed expectations, and you'll get high marks. Fall short of them, and you'll get branded with a D or F. You know how this works. Here is my midseason report card for all 42 members of the 2025 Yankees. The players are listed alphabetically within each grade tier.
Incomplete
Incomplete is often the coward’s way out, though sometimes it is the only reasonable choice. Here are the guys who have spent time with the Yankees, but not enough to really contribute one way or the other.
RHP Clayton Beeter: Another shoulder issue delayed the start of Beeter’s season until late April. He’s had two stints with the Yankees this month (he didn’t pitch the first time) and he allowed three runs in each of his two outings. More extra-base hits allowed (three) than strikeouts (one) ain’t gonna cut it in any sample size. Beeter has big league stuff and Triple-A command.
RHP JT Brubaker: The Yankees traded for Brubaker on the second day of the regular season last year, rehabbed him through Tommy John surgery (and an oblique strain), then he broke a few ribs ducking out of the way of a comebacker this spring. Brubaker finally joined the Yankees late last month and has had one disaster outing (four runs and one out against the Athletics on June 29th). Otherwise he's been inoffensive as a low leverage arm. Five of his other six outings were scoreless.
RHP Yerry De Los Santos: De Los Santos had a strong run as a “keep his team in the game” type for a few weeks before his elbow acted up. He’s had three stints with the MLB team and has a 1.80 ERA (3.59 FIP) in 20 innings spanning 14 appearances. Maybe that’s enough of a workload to move him out of the incompletes and give him an actual grade? I’d slap a B on him. Yerry was a pleasant surprise in his low profile role.
RHP Scott Effross: Decent chance Effross, who had Tommy John and back surgery in recent years, will throw more innings for the Yankees this year than he did from 2022-24 (12.2). He’s at six innings in two stints with the big league team, and in those six innings he’s allowed two runs and struck out six. Not bad at all. Given the state of the bullpen, Effross figures to get some run these next few weeks, and could earn himself staying power if he capitalizes on the opportunity.
RHP Yoendrys Gómez: My No. 25 prospect entering 2025, injuries cleared an Opening Day roster spot for YoGo, who appeared in six games with the Yankees: 10 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 9 BB, 5 K, 1 HR. Gómez’s most notable contributions were three innings of low leverage relief against the Diamondbacks on April 2nd and the Guardians on April 21st. He also allowed a walk-off homer to Jonathan Aranda on April 19th, not the Yankees would have actually won that road extra-innings game. Gómez was DFAed when Tyler Matzek joined the Yankees and has since bounced to the Dodgers and White Sox. He cleared waivers a few weeks back and is with Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate.
RHP Geoff Hartlieb: Two appearances, 13 batters faced, six runs, four outs, two DFAs. Hartlieb had two stints as a spare arm earlier this month and immediately made a mess of things both times he was used. He had a good Spring Training and pitched well enough in Triple-A (3.34 ERA and 3.04 FIP), but Scranton isn’t the Bronx. The Yankees have been desperate for someone to come up and give the bullpen a shot in the arm the last few weeks. Hartlieb had two cracks at it and failed. He would get an F if he had enough playing time to justify bumping him out of the incompletes.
LHP Brent Headrick: Headrick’s Spring Training velocity boost has stuck around, which is nice. He was on the Opening Day roster and has had two stints with the big league club, but cost himself a spot when he allowed multiple runs three times in a four-appearance span in late May/early June. Headrick struck out 16 in 13.1 innings with the Yankees, who could use a bat-missing lefty, though they never showed much interest in using him in anything other than low leverage spots. Only one of his 11 appearances came with the score separated by fewer than three runs.
LHP Tyler Matzek: The Yankees talked up Matzek big time in Spring Training – “Early signs point to he could absolutely factor in,” Aaron Boone said in February – but an oblique injury delayed the start of his season, and when he did join the Yankees in late April, he gave up a lot of hard contact (95.1 mph exit velocity) and didn’t miss many bats (8.7% swinging strikes). The Yankees DFAed Matzek after he allowed 16 baserunners in 6.1 innings spanning seven appearances. He signed a minor league deal with the Cardinals after the Yankees cut him loose, though he’s been hurt and hasn’t appeared in a game for them yet.
RHP Adam Ottavino: The rent-a-reliever appeared in three games in April (1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 3 K) and hasn’t been seen since (other than on SNY). With the way the bullpen is going these days, maybe bring Ottavino back and see if he can be any better than the up/down guys the Yankees have run out there the last few weeks?
LHP Jayvien Sandridge: A minor league contract signing over the winter, Sandridge had two one-day stints with the Yankees (June 19th and June 22nd) and did not pitch either time. He shed the phantom big leaguer label with his third call up earlier this month. Sandridge was brought in to face Juan Soto and Pete Alonso and, two batters later, the Mets had two more runs. So it goes. He has 21 strikeouts in 12.2 Triple-A innings around an injury. I bet we see him again at some point this year.
RHP Cam Schlittler: The pitching line (5.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 7 K, 2 HR) doesn’t do Schlittler justice. He looked pretty darn good in his MLB debut last Wednesday. Schlittler rewrote the Yankees’ pitch velocity leaderboard in one night (he’s thrown their seven fastest and 15 of their 17 fastest pitches this year) and will get at least one more start after the All-Star break. Probably a few more after that depending how he performs and how the trade deadline goes. Schlittler is one of the top breakout prospects in the minors this year and now he’s in the big leagues.
IF Jorbit Vivas: Vivas has appeared in more games than I realized (23), though he only has 55 plate appearances, and in those 55 plate appearances he hit .149/.245/.255 (45 wRC+). He did hit a homer in a 1-0 win on May 22nd though. That was cool. It is Vivas’ only big league homer to date. He’s back with the Yankees right now as a backup infielder.
RHP Allan Winans: Winans spent four days with the Yankees in April, did not get into a game, then came back up when the Yankees needed a spot starter to replace Ryan Yarbrough last month. He retired nine of the first 10 Reds he faced and only four of the final nine. Winans made a relief appearance a week later and has allowed seven runs in 6.1 big league innings this year. He’s been exceptional in Scranton (1.19 ERA and 2.51 FIP in 60.2 innings) and I bet we’ll see him at least one more time this year. That’s just how it goes with pitching, you know?
Grade F
The worst of the worst. The players who have been so bad that they should have to personally apologize to us for having to watch them play.
RHP Jonathan Loáisiga: Loáisiga has surrendered seven homers in 23.1 innings this year after giving up five homers in 69.2 innings from 2022-24. That’s despite a 52.9 GB% and 86.1 average exit velocity. It’s odd. His ground balls are weak, but when hitters get him in the air, it is loud contact. Loáisiga has never been a premier bat-misser (21.8 K%), making the hard contact in the air more problematic. Also, he’s allowed six of 12 inherited runners to score. The league average is 32%. Maybe we should grade Loáisiga on a curve because he’s coming back from UCL surgery? Then again, if you’re healthy enough to pitch, you’re healthy enough to be expected to perform, and Loáisiga has been shaky and if not flat out bad (5.01 ERA and 6.00 FIP). He’s among the biggest reasons the bullpen has been a liability this year and needs to be reinforced at the deadline.
IF Oswald Peraza: Oswald, please hit just a little bit. The .155/.219/.250 (31 wRC+) line is awful. Unacceptably bad. That 31 wRC+ ranks 303rd out of 304 players with 150 plate appearances. Only Michael Massey (25 wRC+) is worse. Peraza doesn’t even have to be a good hitter. If he could match his 89 OPS+ preseason ZiPS projection, he’s a 1-2 WAR player you can live with at the bottom of the lineup. The under-the-hood numbers on Peraza’s bat are not good. Too many chases, too many whiffs, too much weak contact. Without significant improvement, there is little hope for an adequate hitter to emerge from this skill set, which is among the reasons the Yankees are looking for a third baseman at the trade deadline.
UTIL Pablo Reyes: A good spring and a lack of alternatives earned Reyes a spot on the Opening Day roster. He spent 81 days and 70 team games on the roster, enough to move him out of the incompletes even though he appeared in only 24 of those 70 games (seven starts). Reyes hit .194/.242/.226 (32 wRC+) while playing four positions (second, third, left, right). He contributed more to the Yankees as a pitcher (-0.1 WAR) than as a position player (-0.5 WAR). The Yankees DFAed Reyes when Giancarlo Stanton returned and he signed a minor league deal with the Mets soon thereafter.
Grade D
The players who have been bad – very bad – but not so bad that they earned a failing grade. They need to do some extra credit in the second half to raise their GPA.
RHP Carlos Carrasco: Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, and Clarke Schmidt all got hurt in Spring Training, pushing Carrasco into the Opening Day rotation. He had a few good outings, most notably one run in five innings against the Royals on April 14th and five shutout innings against the Blue Jays on April 25th, but by and large it went poorly. Carrasco has a 5.91 ERA (5.30 FIP) in 32 innings spanning six starts and two relief appearances with the MLB team this year. Giving him a D feels harsh because expectations were low (Carrasco had a 5.32 ERA from 2021-24, after all), but I can’t go any higher either. Carrasco is 38, he’s got 16 years in the big leagues, he’s made a ton of money, yet he’s still in the organization and getting after it in Scranton. Some guys just love baseball.
2B DJ LeMahieu: The Yankees ripped off the band-aid and DFAed LeMahieu last week, eating the $22M they owe him through next season. He missed the start of the year with a calf injury and hit .266/.338/.336 (95 wRC+) in 45 games, his best offensive output since 2023, though his arm limited him to second base, where his range was lacking. A low impact bat on the light side of the platoon plus negative defensive and baserunning value plus limited versatility equals a player who doesn’t help his team much. It’s too bad it had to end the way it did, but rarely is the end pretty. 2019-20 LeMahieu is one of the best free agent signings in Yankees’ history. 2025 LeMahieu has no business being on a contender’s roster.
RHP Marcus Stroman: Stroman has made six starts around his knee injury and that puts him right on the bubble of incomplete/getting a grade. He missed more than two months and was terrible in three starts before the injury (12 runs in 9.1 innings), though he’s been solid by No. 5 starter standards in three starts since the injury (six runs in 15 innings). Tough grade to assign. Unless it was caused by doing something dumb, I don’t blame guys for injuries, but injuries can impact performance and ultimately do factor into grades. At the end of the day, you can’t ignore a 6.66 ERA (5.59 FIP), even if Stroman has been better since returning. At least he’s trending in the right direction.
SS Anthony Volpe: So there’s no chance Volpe is healthy, right? He’s been wearing a sleeve on his left arm and icing his left shoulder after every game since feeling a “pop” in the shoulder diving for a ball on May 4th. Tests, including an MRI and x-rays, came back clean, but Volpe’s offense went in the tank immediately after that injury. Then again, who can tell? His .206/.269/.358 (73 wRC+) line since May 4th isn't wildly out of line with his .228/.288/.373 (85 wRC+) line from 2023-24. Maybe Volpe’s hurt, maybe this is just who he is. Volpe’s defense and baserunning propped up his weak bat the last two years. That is not happening this year:
2023: +15 DRS and +1 OAA
2024: +6 DRS and +14 OAA
2025: +2 DRS and -2 OAA
It’s not just that Volpe isn’t making as many plays anymore. It’s staying back on balls he should charge, it’s the lollipop throws, it’s a lack of situational awareness. Knowing when not to throw the ball is an important defensive skill and Volpe does not have it. On top of that, Volpe is 10-for-17 (59%) stealing bases and his extra-base taken rate is a miniscule 35%, down from 48% the last two years and well below the 40% league average. (The lack of baserunning could also point to a shoulder injury if he’s hesitant to slide.)
Bottom line, Volpe is again a below-average hitter, and now his defense and baserunning grade out as average at best. This is the worst version of Volpe yet. We've seen no signs of progress 2.5 years into his career. If anything, he’s going backwards. You could probably talk me into Volpe deserving an F relative to even modest preseason expectations given his declining glovework.
Grade C
A good ol’ C. Can’t be too upset by it, can’t be too thrilled with it. The lifeblood of those who strive to do just enough to get by. Here are the Yankees who are doing alright at doing alright.
3B Oswaldo Cabrera: Poor Waldo. He suffered a season-ending ankle injury sliding into home plate on May 12th, scoring an insurance run the Yankees didn’t really need with two outs in the top of the ninth inning of an 11-5 win. The scene on the field, with trainer Tim Lentych looking Christlike as he consoled Cabrera, was the most heartbreaking of the season.
Cabrera still leads the Yankees with 30 starts at third base. He didn’t hit much (.243/.322/.308 and 83 wRC+) and he’s got a Gio Urshela thing going on defensively where the numbers (-1 DRS and -1 OAA) say he isn’t as good as the eye test. The Yankees failed to address third base over the winter and relied too much on Cabrera again. That’s not on him. He performed pretty much exactly how I expected him to perform as an everyday player, hence the C.
RHP Ian Hamilton: A perfectly cromulent middle reliever. Hamilton has a 3.47 ERA (3.97 FIP) with a lot of strikeouts (27.2%) and too many walks (12.9%). He missed the start of the season with an illness and was shaky his first few weeks back (eight runs in 4.1 innings in a six-appearance stretch in mid-May), two things that could be related. Hamilton has been much better the last few weeks. This feels like textbook C stuff. A non-elite reliever who has the occasional bad outing. News at 11.
RHP Mark Leiter Jr.: What a weird season for Leiter. The underlying numbers are terrific: 29.1 K%, 7.6 BB%, 49.0 GB%, 86.0 mph exit velocity, 29.6% hard-hit rate. He’s missed bats, he’s gotten grounders, he’s gotten weak contact. What more do you want? And yet, Leiter has a 4.46 ERA through 34.1 innings, and he had a stretch where he allowed five of six inherited runners to score in late April/early May. He’s getting crushed on those ground balls:
Leiter in 2025: .375 BABIP on grounders
Leiter before 2025: .244 BABIP on grounders
MLB average: .245 BABIP on grounders
Leiter has a .411 BABIP overall this year (.290 entering 2025). I came into this exercise expecting to give him a D, but man, he’s doing everything he needs to do. He’s striking guys out, he’s not walking many, he’s getting ground balls and weak contact. Those ground balls just keep finding holes and not being converted into outs. I can’t go any higher than a C because we can’t completely ignore the 4.46 ERA and inherited runner issues, but Leiter has deserved better outcomes. He landed on the injured list with a stress fracture in his left knee last week. Apparently it sounds worse than it is and he’s already resumed throwing.
DH Giancarlo Stanton: I considered putting Stanton in the incompletes because he’s played only 21 games and has only 78 plate appearances (fewer than J.C. Escarra!), but he was expected to be an everyday guy this year, and he was unavailable until mid-June. The .246/.333/.449 (121 wRC+) slash line is about what I expect at this point in Stanton’s career, and he’s hit four homers in his last 29 plate appearances, so things are trending in the right direction. Weird one to grade. I don’t blame Stanton for getting hurt, but missing so much time has to be considered for grading purposes.
RHP Will Warren: Blowups in Los Angeles and Toronto give Warren a 4.63 ERA (it’s a 3.40 ERA in his other 18 starts), but he’s been solid to great more often than not, and the underlying numbers are really freaking good. Like, shockingly good. Here’s where Warren ranks among the 85 pitchers with at least 90 innings this season:
FIP: 3.41 (25th)
xERA: 3.58 (23rd)
K%: 26.7% (19th)
BB%: 10.5% (79th)
GB%: 44.6% (28th)
Too many walks, but what rookie pitcher doesn’t walk too many? 11 times in 20 starts Warren’s gone at least five innings with no more than two runs allowed. Injuries pushed him into the rotation and, by and large, he’s pitched well. Those awful starts against the Dodgers and Blue Jays happened, we can’t ignore them, which is why Warren gets a C rather than a B. Can’t complain too much about the overall body of work though.
Grade B
The Yankees as a team probably deserve a B, no? Especially with no Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil. It’s been closer to a C or even a D team the last few weeks, but it was A earlier in the year, so I think a B is appropriate for the Yankees as a whole. As for the individual players who earned a B with their performance, let’s get to them now.
RHP Fernando Cruz: It’s A performance and C availability, so a B on average. Cruz missed 15 days with shoulder inflammation in late May/early June and he’s been sidelined the last two weeks with an oblique strain. It’s a high grade strain, so it will be a while. When healthy, Cruz has pitched to a 3.00 ERA (2.45 FIP) and has been an extreme bat-misser in high leverage situations. 345 pitchers have thrown at least 30 innings this season. Here are two leaderboards:
Strikeout Rate
1. Fernando Cruz: 41.2%
2. Mason Miller: 40.3%
3. Aroldis Chapman: 39.3%
4. Josh Hader: 39.2%
5. Griffin Jax: 38.0%
(MLB average: 21.9%)
Swinging Strike Rate
1. Josh Hader: 21.4%
2. Aroldis Chapman: 20.9%
3. Fernando Cruz: 20.5%
4. Griffin Jax: 20.4%
5. Mason Miller: 20.0%
(MLB average: 10.8%)
Cruz’s splitter has an absurd 60.2% whiff rate, so hitters are missing with six out of every 10 swings. It is the highest whiff rate on any pitch in baseball (min. 200 thrown), well ahead of Brendon Little’s curveball, the runner-up at 55.9%. The Yankees have really missed this guy. Cruz is arguably the best bat-misser in baseball and there’s been a void in the late innings when he’s been hurt, which he is right now.
LF Jasson Domínguez: The arrow is pointing up. The .266/.343/.417 (114 wRC+) line is heavily skewed against righties (136 wRC+), and Domínguez has had a tremendous July that earned him the leadoff spot (against righties). He’s even looked more comfortable in left field the last few weeks, not that he isn’t still prone to occasional blunder. Also, FanGraphs rates Domínguez as a top 20 baserunner thanks to the stolen bases (14-for-16) and extra-base taken rate (51%). El Marciano has performed solidly and he’s a better player today than he was on Opening Day even though his playing time has been inconsistent given the outfield situation. What more do you want from a rookie?
C J.C. Escarra: Escarra has been a bang-on backup catcher. His .215/.312/.354 (89 wRC+) line is good enough for his role and the underlying numbers suggest there’s more in the tank: 14.0 K%, 11.8 BB%, 90.5 mph exit velocity, and 7.6% swinging strikes. He also leads baseball in called strike rate, which more or less indicates he’s been the best pitch-framer in the game on a rate basis. The one real negative is the throwing. Runners are 19-for-20 stealing bases against Escarra, and the one caught stealing wasn’t even a real caught stealing. Davis Schneider overslid the bag and was tagged out (video). Escarra’s walk-off sac fly against the Padres on May 7th qualifies as a signature moment and, weirdly but perhaps not, he’s caught six of the team’s 10 shutouts. The lefty hitting backup behind a lefty hitting starter thing is clunky, but that’s not on Escarra. He’s done the job asked of him and he’s done it well. (Expect there to be a lot of chatter about Escarra as a trade chip these next two weeks.)
LHP Tim Hill: Pretty typical Tim Hill season. Tons of grounders (67.4%), few strikeouts (13.7%), eating up lefties (.141/.225/.164 and .181 wOBA), few too many homers to righties (five). The righty homer problem is at least partly on Aaron Boone, who’s left Hill in to face righties a few times even after the three-batter minimum had been satisfied and he didn’t have to. Here’s a fun leaderboard:
Inherited Runners
1. Tim Hill: 48
2. Nick Mears: 36
3. Hoby Milner: 35
4. Jake Bird: 33
5. John Schreiber: 31
You can thank Boone and his insatiable thirst for squeezing one more out from his starter for that. Only 10 of those 48 inherited runners have scored, a 21% rate that is much better than the 32% league average. Maybe the inherited runner thing is enough to move Hill into the As? Eh. I know what an A reliever season looks like and it’s not Hill this year, which sounds more like a knock than I want it to. Hill’s been really good. I wish the Yankees had more relievers who deserve a B.
C/1B Ben Rice: The offensive performance has been very good (.235/.326/.466 and 121 wRC+), especially against righties (.250/.353/.475 and 134 wRC+), and it feels like there is more to be had here. Rice’s contact quality is among the best in the league …
… but he has been pop up/lazy fly ball prone at times, and pop ups/lazy fly balls are close to automatic outs. When Giancarlo Stanton was unavailable to begin the season, Rice stepped in and performed very well, and he’s carved out a role as a righty masher who can play first base and DH, and even catch a little. I can’t go higher than a B because the numbers since May 1st are pretty meh for a bat-first guy (.210/.300/.402 and 97 wRC+), but April counts, and Rice was a major contributor to the Yankees' hot start. An easy B relative to my preseason expectations.
RHP Clarke Schmidt: Schmidt’s season, and maybe even his last two seasons, will go down as a major what could have been story. Following a minor shoulder issue in Spring Training, Schmidt pitched to a 3.32 ERA (3.90 FIP and 2.95 xERA) in 14 starts while averaging close to six innings per. The pitcher who couldn’t get through a lineup three times in 2023 is long gone. Schmidt threw seven no-hit innings against the Orioles on June 21st, he tweaked his arsenal (sweepier slider and revived four-seamer), and appeared to be taking that Next Step. It was exciting. And then he blew out his elbow, and needed his second career Tommy John surgery last week. A brutal blow for the Yankees and Schmidt. The on-field performance was borderline A. The lack of availability bumps him down to a B. So it goes.
C Austin Wells: The walk (6.6%) and chase (31.4%) rates have taken a step back from last year (11.4% and 26.4%), but Wells already has more homers (14 vs. 13) and almost as many doubles (18 vs. 15) as last season in way fewer plate appearances (411 vs. 289), and the .226/.284/.455 (101 wRC+) line is solidly above average for a catcher. Wells also rates as one of the top pitch-framers in the league and his 27% caught stealing rate is above the 22% league average. This is not the step forward season I was hoping for offensively, but Wells ranks sixth among catchers with +2.2 fWAR, which includes framing. He’s one of the most well-rounded catchers in the sport.
RHP Luke Weaver: Weaver misses bats (27.1 K%) and he doesn’t hurt himself with walks (6.8%), and he’s come out of that little rut he had following the hamstring injury. The homers (1.59 HR/9) and the hard contact (90.6 mph exit velocity and 11.0% barrel rate) are a problem for a guy who pitches in high leverage situations though. The ERA (2.91) is much better than the underlying numbers (4.15 FIP) and the outs haven’t come quite as easy this year as they did last year. I nearly went with a C, though I think that's too harsh. Weaver has been a bit south of my expectations but has still been really good overall, even factoring in the dingeritis around the hamstring injury.
RHP Devin Williams: Yeah, I definitely did not see Williams getting a B a few weeks ago. He was horrible in April. Horrible as in four three-run appearances in his first 14 games after four three-run appearances from 2021-24. The Yankees demoted Williams out of the closer’s role following a blown save on April 25th. Since then: 2.63 ERA (1.99 FIP) with 36.9 K% and 6.8 BB% in 27.1 innings. That is the Devin Williams the Yankees traded for and the Devin Williams who was arguably the best reliever in the game with the Brewers. His season ERA sits at an unsightly 4.58, which is a) a reminder of how bad he was earlier this year, and b) a function of being a short reliever. It will take him all season to whittle his ERA down to a respectable number. Williams and Weaver have had opposite seasons. Williams had a bad month and has been great since. Weaver was awesome up until this last bad month.
LHP Ryan Yarbrough: Savior might be too strong a word, but Yarbrough became a really important piece of the pitching staff after being a scrap heap signing less than a week before Opening Day. He started the year in the bullpen, mostly mopping up Carlos Carrasco’s and Will Warren’s bad starts, then he moved into the rotation in early May, where he had a 3.83 ERA (4.61 FIP) in eight starts and 40 innings before going down with an oblique injury. That includes a four-inning, eight-run disaster against the Red Sox. The Yankees helped Yarbrough tweak his changeup (their specialty) and he’s given them 55.1 classic Yarbrough innings: 3.90 ERA (4.69 FIP) overall with an 86.3 mph average exit velocity, a top five mark in baseball. His eight-start run was a huge pick-me-up at that point in the season.
Grade A
The best of the best. I’m always a bit concerned I’m giving out too many As – they should be reserved for the tippy top performers, right? – but I don’t think I’m being overly generous with anyone here.
1B/OF Cody Bellinger: The first few weeks of the offseason moved so fast that I didn’t get a chance to write about many Juan Soto alternatives, though I did say I considered Bellinger the best backup plan to Soto in the Offseason Plan, so I’ll count that as a win. Bellinger had a sluggish April, for sure, but he’s been on a rampage the last few months, and entered the break with a .282/.336/.494 (129 wRC+) slash line while playing strong defense and seamlessly bouncing between three outfield positions, and even playing a little first base. Bellinger ranks tenth among all outfielders (not just AL outfielders) with +2.9 fWAR and 11th with +3.0 bWAR. Some dudes just have that Yankee vibe, you know? Bellinger has it. He’s been terrific in all phases of the game and no worse than the Yankees’ third best position player in 2025.
2B/3B Jazz Chisholm Jr.: If Bellinger hasn’t been the Yankees' second best position player this season, then it’s Chisholm, who’s hitting .250/.348/.513 (140 wRC+) with 17 homers and 10 steals. He missed a month with an oblique strain, and the availability ding is usually enough to bump a player out of the As and into the Bs, but Jazz has been one of the best hitters in the league since returning. Here’s where he ranks among 185 qualified hitters since the day he was activated:
AVG: .312 (19th in MLB)
OBP: .387 (20th)
SLG: .618 (10th)
wRC+: 175 (6th)
HR: 10 (13th)
WAR: +2.0 (8th)
A top 20 hitter and top 10 player, basically. Chisholm has played great defense at second base and took one for the team when he played third in deference to DJ LeMahieu. It was ill-advised, but that’s on the Yankees. Chisholm did what was asked of him and tried his best. Since last trade deadline, Jazz ranks 27th among all position players with +4.3 WAR. He’s been so, so good as a Yankee. This is a 2025-only grade, and even then I’m comfortable giving him an A despite missing a month.
LHP Max Fried: Fried’s been a little wobbly of late, no? Four times in his last five starts he’s surrendered at least three runs after doing it twice in his 15 starts. Perhaps the blister that forced him out of Saturday’s start has been bothering him longer than he’s letting on. The All-Star break is coming at a good time then. Even with that, Fried has been awesome. He’s top 10 in just about everything among qualified starters, including ERA (2.43), ERA+ (166), FIP (3.03), xERA (3.43), K% (23.1%), BB% (5.5%), GB% (51.3%), fWAR (+2.9), and bWAR (+3.3). Fried has been everything the Yankees signed him to be and probably even better than that, really.
1B Paul Goldschmidt: I mentally had Goldschmidt penciled in for a B, but you know what? I would have signed up for a .287/.345/.431 (115 wRC+) midseason line with 16.6 K% before the season in the heartbeat, even if it is skewed heavily against lefties (233 wRC+). June was ugly, no doubt about it, but it is an outlier. Goldschmidt had a 147 wRC+ in April, a 150 wRC+ in May, a 20 wRC+ in June, and now it’s a 155 wRC+ halfway through July. Add in terrific first base defense and opportunistic baserunning (5-for-6 in steals and a 39% extra-base taken rate), and yeah, Goldschmidt gets an A. The 37-year-old was coming off the worst season of his career. It was easy to be down on him. Rather than continue to decline like so many players his age, Goldschmidt has rebounded in a big way. This is pretty much best case scenario stuff.
CF Trent Grisham: There was a down period in May and June, for sure, but come on. Grisham’s hitting .251/.353/.464 (131 wRC+) with 16 homers. Yeah, his defense has been average-ish more than Gold Glove caliber (-3 DRS and -1 OAA), but I repeat: Grisham’s hitting .251/.353/.464 (131 wRC+). We don’t have to overthink this. A 131 wRC+ with average-ish center field defense equals a player who is 13th among AL outfielders with +2.5 WAR. Trent couldn’t get off the bench last year and was a non-tender candidate in the offseason. Now he’s one of the most productive outfielders in the league. Yes, the 131 wRC+ center fielder gets an A.
RF Aaron Judge: The best player and the best hitter in the world somehow keeps getting better. When Judge hit 52 homers in 2017, I thought okay, he’s great, but that was probably his career year. I mean, who has multiple 50-homer seasons these days? That’s ridiculous. No one does that. Then Judge hit 62 homers in 2022, was just about as good on a rate basis in 2023, leveled up again in 2024, and has done it yet again in 2025. This year’s numbers are simply preposterous:
AVG: .355 (Runner-up: Jacob Wilson at .332)
OBP: .462 (Runner-up: Will Smith at .425)
SLG: .733 (Runner-up: Cal Raleigh at .634)
wRC+: 218 (Runner-up: Raleigh at 177)
HR: 35 (Second behind Raleigh’s 38)
XBH: 61 (Runner-up: Raleigh with 54)
Total bases: 258 (Runner-up: Shohei Ohtani with 223)
Times on base: 198 (Runner-up: Rafael Devers with 170)
fWAR: +7.4 (Runner-up: Raleigh at +6.4)
bWAR: +7.0 (Runner-up: Pete Crow-Armstrong with +5.4)
Judge and Raleigh have been trading places atop the RBI leaderboard the last few weeks. Judge has a real shot at the Triple Crown. Not just the AL Triple Crown either. The MLB Triple Crown. Ty Cobb in 1909 and Mickey Mantle in 1956 are the only players in AL/NL history to lead baseball, not just their leagues, in the three Triple Crown categories. (Sign of the times: Cobb had nine homers the year he did it.)
Chances are Judge won’t get the MLB Triple Crown, that’s just how these things go, but we’re at the All-Star break and it is within reach. It’s not a fantasy and you don’t have to squint to see 15 other things going exactly right for it to happen. This is doable. So is another 60-homer season. So is a +12 WAR season. In terms of peak production, Judge is the greatest right-handed hitter ever, and he's better than ever.
LHP Carlos Rodón: The Rodón redemption arc is the most remarkable by a Yankee in a long, long time. He was a disaster in 2023, solid to very good in 2024, and he’s been a bona fide ace in 2025. Friday’s eight shutout innings against a great Cubs team give him a 3.08 ERA (3.59 FIP and 3.08 xERA) with 28.2 K% and 8.6 BB% in 20 starts. He hasn’t missed a turn, he’s averaging six innings a start, and he’s been excellent more often than not. Rodón reshaped his arsenal in the middle of last season, specifically incorporating more curveballs and changeups, and this year he’s added a sinker. Rodón was a late addition to the All-Star Game roster and it wasn’t a “Jacob Misiorowski is an All-Star because no one else is available to pitch” thing. It is deserved. A stellar season for a player who made us all groan two years ago. Way to go, Carlos.
Comments
DZB
I totally agree that Bellinger just feels like he belongs on the Yankees. He's been great
DZB
Using similar logic, we could say the Pablo Reyes has been more valuable to the team since he was DFA'd (0 WAR) than when he was on the team.
