1 week Ago By Nolan Rabine
Photo by New York Yankees/Getty Images Dominant outings from Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, Allan Winans, and Cam Schlittler headlined a rollercoaster week for the Yankees’ minor-league affiliates. Welcome to the fourth installment of the weekly 2025 minor-league review, where we take a look at how the Yankees’ affiliates performed over the past week! It was a mixed bag across the board in the organization last week, but a few special pitching performances stood out amongst the rest. Here’s how the Yankees’ affiliates performed during the week of April 21st-27th:Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre RailRidersRecord: 12-14; Sixth place in International League (East), 8.
5 GBPast Week: 1-5 vs Charlotte Knights (White Sox)Coming Up: Away @ Syracuse MetsIt was a tough week for the RailRiders, who lost five of six in their home ballpark against the White Sox Triple-A affiliate, the Charlotte Knights. The week started with a 5-4 loss on Tuesday, when Nick Nastrini threw six shutout innings for the Knights and a late-game comeback effort came up short despite a ninth-inning homer from Grant Richardson. The lone win of the week came on Wednesday, behind a dominant performance from Allan Winans who struck out ten batters in just 3.
2 innings. Jake Gatewood hit his first homer of the year in the win, recording three RBI in the game. Scranton then lost four straight from Thursday through Sunday.
Tim Elko homered twice for the Knights in a 10-3 loss on Thursday, then homered again on Friday and twice more on Sunday. Sunday saw a high-scoring affair, with the RailRiders falling 13-12 in 12 innings despite figuring out Nastrini and knocking him out in the first inning with five runs already on the board. Despite a promising +23 run differential on the season, the losing streak dropped Scranton’s record to 12-14.
They’ll travel to Syracuse this upcoming week for a series against the Mets.Players of Note:Jorbit Vivas: 108 PA; .322/.
430/.448, 2 HR, 15 RBI, 5 SB, 13.9/6.
5 BB/K%, 144 wRC+T.J. Rumfield: 98 PA; .
244/.367/.476, 4 HR, 17 RBI, 1 SB, 13.
3/19.4 BB/K%, 129 wRC+Everson Pereira: 67 PA; .254/.
328/.424, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 2 SB, 9.0/35.
8 BB/K%, 104 wRC+Double-A Somerset PatriotsRecord: 9-12; Fourth place in Eastern League (Northeast), 4 GBPast Week: 3-3 vs Hartford Goats (Rockies)Coming Up: Away @ Richmond Flying Squirrels (Giants)The Yankees’ Double-A affiliate developed a pattern in a home series this past week, winning every other game against the Hartford Goats in a series they ended up splitting 3-3. The week started with a 7-3 victory on Monday, with Brendan Beck tossing five shutout innings in the win. A rehabbing DJ LeMahieu went 3-for-3 with a homer, and Spencer Jones went 2-for-2 with two walks.
Somerset lost 4-2 on Wednesday, with Clayton Beeter allowing three runs in just one-third of an inning and getting tagged with the loss. Cam Schlittler got the Patriots back on track on Thursday with a dominant performance, striking out nine and only allowing two hits and one walk in seven shutout innings. The final score was 2-0, with the runs being scored on solo homers from Spencer Jones and Dylan Jasso.
Hartford dominated on Friday in a 19-4 loss for the Patriots, though Garrett Martin did hit his third homer of the year. Saturday saw a 4-3 victory, with two more hits in the game for LeMahieu. Clayton Beeter also got back on track, recording five flawless outs and striking out three.
The week ended with a 13-5 loss, despite Martin and Rafael Flores each hitting their fourth homers of the season. After trading punches with Hartford all week, Somerset made up no ground in the record column and they still sit below .500 on the season at 9-12.
They’ll travel to Richmond to face the Flying Squirrels this upcoming week.Players of Note:Spencer Jones: 89 PA; .230/.
360/.541, 7 HR, 12 RBI, 4 SB, 15.7/34.
8 BB/K%, 163 wRC+Cam Schlittler: 22 IP; 1.23 ERA, 29.3 K%, 6.
1 BB%, .169 BAA, 0.82 WHIPDylan Jasso: 73 PA; .
258/.329/.485, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 8.
2/13.7 BB/K%, 139 wRC+High-A Hudson Valley RenegadesRecord: 15-6; T-First place in South Atlantic League (North)Past Week: 4-2 @ Asheville Tourists (Astros)Coming Up: Home vs Jersey Shore BlueClaws (Phillies)It was a great weekend for the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades, who ended the week on a four-game win streak after dropping both games of a Wednesday double-header. Ben Hess’ hot streak to begin his career stopped abruptly in game one, as he walked six batters and gave up five runs in a 9-5 loss.
Brendan Jones kept up the hot streak he’s been on after a slow start to the season, recording a double and a solo homer in the game. Carlos Lagrange kept up his increased command in game two, striking out and walking just two in five innings of one-run ball, but the Renegades dropped that one as well by a score of 3-2. From that point on however, it was smooth sailing as Hudson Valley kicked off a win streak with a 9-4 victory on Thursday.
Omar Martinez hit his first home run of the year in the win. Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz was the star of the night in a 3-0 win on Friday as he absolutely dominated the Tourists with 12 strikeouts in 6.1 shutout innings.
Saturday’s victory was a 15-0 blowout, with homers from Coby Morales, Jackson Castillo, and Jace Avina. Jones, Castillo, Avina, and George Lombard Jr. each recorded three hits in the offensive explosion.
The week ended with an 8-4 win on Sunday, with Avina recording three more hits and Duncan Pastore picking up three of his own. The Renegades kept up their hot start to the season this week, and they’re now 15-6 on the year and tied for first place with the Greensboro Grasshoppers. They’ll look to keep it up in a home series against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws.
Players of Note:George Lombard Jr: 87 PA; .306/.494/.
452, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 9 SB, 23.0/20.7 BB/K%, 177 wRC+Brendan Jones: 86 PA; .
236/.349/.444, 3 HR, 12 RBI, 11 SB, 12.
8/22.1 BB/K%, 125 wRC+Ben Hess: 13.1 IP; 3.
38 ERA, 36.1 K%, 14.8 BB%, .
180 BAA, 1.35 WHIPBryce Cunningham: 24 IP; 2.63 ERA, 31.
6 K%, 4.2 BB%, .213 BAA, 0.
96 WHIPCarlos Lagrange: 14 IP; 5.14 ERA, 41.4 K%, 8.
6 BB%, .250 BAA, 1.29 WHIPLow-A Tampa TarponsRecord: 8-13; T-Fifth place in Florida State League (West), 4 GBPast Week: 1-5 vs Dunedin Blue JaysComing Up: @ Bradenton Marauders (Pirates)It was another brutal week in what’s been a disappointing start to the season for the Tampa Tarpons, as they lost five of six games in a home series against the Dunedin Blue Jays.
They started the series with a tough matchup on Tuesday against 2024 draft pick Khal Stephen, who pitched five impressive innings for Dunedin. Parks Harber had three hits for the Tarpons, but they lost the game 6-3. They lost another tough one 6-5 on Wednesday, despite Hans Montero’s first home run of the season.
The Tarpons’ only win of the week came on Thursday, as they won 7-2 behind seven shutout innings from Griffin Herring. Marshall Toole had three hits in the win. They lost 4-2 on Friday as Tanner Bauman (5 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 3K) was out-dueled by last year’s first-round draft pick for the Blue Jays, Trey Yesavage (4.
2 IP, 2 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 10 K). They dropped both games over the weekend as well, 5-1 on Saturday and 8-5 on Sunday. Colby Holcombe shut the offense down on Saturday with six strikeouts over five shutout innings, and Dunedin’s offense performed well on Sunday as the Tarpons lost for the fifth time in a week despite two doubles from Josue Gonzalez.
Tampa is off to a bad start with an 8-13 record, but they’ll look to turn things around on the road against the Bradenton Marauders.Players of Note:Parks Harber: 83 PA; .304/.
422/.551, 3 HR, 13 RBI, 4 SB, 14.5/26.
5 BB/K%, 170 wRC+Griffin Herring: 23.1 IP; 0.39 ERA, 29.
8 K%, 10.6 BB%, .145 BAA, 0.
94 WHIPRoderick Arias: 86 PA; .155/.302/.
254, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 9 SB, 16.3/26.6 BB/K%, 72 wRC+.
