FORT MYERS, Fla. —Aaron Judge has seen every elite arm in baseball try to get him out for seven years. He does not pass out compliments easily. So when the three-time AL MVP calls a 22-year-old minor leaguer a potential frontline starter for the New York Yankees, it carries serious weight.
Carlos Lagrange earned that endorsement this spring. And on Friday against the Twins, he reinforced every word of it.
But manager Aaron Boone is not ready to hand the kid a spot on the Opening Day roster. Not yet. Not without one important condition being met first.
Lagrange dominates a big-league lineup in Fort Myers
Lagrange piggybacked Luis Gil on Friday and threw three shutout innings against a Minnesota Twins lineup filled with mostly regulars. He was devastating. His fastball averaged 100.1 mph. He topped out at 102.1 mph. Those were the three hardest pitches thrown by any pitcher in Grapefruit League play this spring.
He generated nine whiffs and four strikeouts on just 41 pitches. The Twins hitters produced ugly swings and check swings. Lagrange was so efficient that the Yankees sent him to the bullpen afterward to throw more because he had barely been tested.
What stood out most was his velocity consistency across innings. His fastball averaged 100.2 mph in the first, 99.3 in the second and 100.8 in the third. There was no drop-off. For a pitcher who has never thrown above Double-A, that kind of sustained power is rare.
This followed an impressive spring debut against the Tigers on Feb. 21, when he went 2 2/3 innings with two strikeouts. And it came two weeks after Lagrange struck out Judge himself on a 102.6 mph fastball during a live batting practice session that had front office members standing at attention.
Judge sees a future ace in the making
Judge has not been shy about what he sees in Lagrange. After that live BP session, where the kid gave up a homer to Judge and then struck him out on three pitches, the Yankees captain made his feelings clear.
“Carlos’ potential, man, is to be a frontline starter for the New York Yankees,” Judge said, per Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. “That’s what you need if you’re going to play in the Bronx. You’ve got to have that demeanor, that it doesn’t matter who’s in front of you or what happens. So I’m excited about him, excited about his stuff. His personality and presence — he’s going to be a special player for us.”
Judge also spoke to YES Network’s Meredith Marakovits about Lagrange after the Tigers game.
“Anytime you can run up to 103 [mph], and he has a great feel for his off-speed pitches; that’s a lethal combo,” Judge said. “I’m looking forward to his debut whenever that comes.”
The 6-foot-7 right-hander from the Dominican Republic had 168 strikeouts across two minor league levels in 2025 and ranked third in the minors in strikeout rate. MLB Pipeline has him at No. 2 in the Yankees’ system and No. 79 overall.
Boone loves the stuff but drops a telling qualifier
This is the part that Yankees fans need to hear. Boone watched Friday’s outing and was clearly impressed. But his postgame comments carried a word that told the whole story.
“The thing I’ve been pleased with with Carlos is, obviously, the stuff jumps out at you, the big fastball and the slider/changeup are really good pitches for him, but the strike throwing’s been there,” Boone said after the 17-5 win at Hammond Stadium.
Then the qualifier.
“If he’s doing that, it gets exciting.”
That word, “if,” matters. It is the single biggest question mark attached to Lagrange’s future. The fastball is elite. The slider generates a 50% whiff rate. The changeup sits around 95 mph and creates unfair separation from his heater. But command has been the knock on Lagrange throughout his rise in the minors. Some scouts still believe he will end up in the bullpen because of it.
MLB Pipeline senior writer Jim Callis put it plainly on MLB Network this week. “It all comes down to strikes,” Callis said. “If he throws consistent strikes this guy is going to be a star in the big leagues.”
Gil’s grind paints the contrast
Friday’s game also featured Luis Gil, who labored through 2 1/3 innings on 52 pitches against the Twins. Gil allowed a homer to Trevor Larnach, generated only four swing-and-misses and averaged just 94.7 mph on his four-seam fastball. He is still building toward his regular-season velocity.
The side-by-side was hard to ignore. Gil, the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year, is grinding through a spring that has raised legitimate questions about his command and strikeout ability. Lagrange, who has never thrown above Double-A, came in behind him and made a major league lineup look overmatched.
The Yankees are not expected to rush Lagrange. Pitching coach Matt Blake has hinted that the bullpen might be the quickest path to the Bronx. The most likely scenario has Lagrange opening the season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, getting eight to 10 starts to sharpen his command and arriving in the big leagues around June if everything goes right.
But if one of the current rotation arms goes down before then, Lagrange just made a loud case for being the first name called.
Judge believes he is a future ace. Boone sees the ceiling too. The only thing standing between Lagrange and all of it is one small, two-letter word.
If.
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