MOOSIC, Pa. — Thursday night was a big night across the Yankees organization. Cam Schlittler threw eight innings at Fenway to sweep the Red Sox. Gerrit Cole made his second rehab start at High-A Hudson Valley.
Then there was Carlos Lagrange.
The 22-year-old right-hander was pitching at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for a 6-5 win in 11 innings over the Washington Nationals affiliate at PNC Field. While nobody was watching on a national stage, Lagrange was doing something that almost nobody else in professional baseball has done.
He threw the ball over 102 mph. Three times. In one start.
And here is the part that will stop Yankees fans cold.
A feat so rare only three MLB pitchers have done it since 2015
According to MLB Pipeline, dating back to 2015, only three pitchers at the major league level have thrown three or more pitches at 102 mph in a single start. Hunter Greene did it in 2022. Jordan Hicks did it in 2022. Jacob Misiorowski did it in 2025.
That is three pitchers across 11 seasons of major league baseball.
Lagrange has now done it twice. In 12 days. At Triple-A.
The last time a minor league pitcher was confirmed to have done it before Thursday was Lagrange himself, on April 11, when he hit 102 mph nine times in a 3 1/3-inning start for Scranton against the Durham Bulls.
That outing on April 11 was a rough one on the scoreboard. Lagrange walked four and gave up two runs. But the velocity was historic. And 12 days later, he did it again. Only this time the whole performance matched the radar gun.
Eight strikeouts, 77 pitches and a near-immaculate inning
Lagrange went five innings Thursday against a lineup that included four current or former Top 100 overall prospects from the Nationals organization. He struck out eight. He walked one. He threw 77 pitches, 53 for strikes. His whiff rate was 43.2 percent.
The three-pitch mix he used to finish batters was unusual. Lagrange struck out hitters with four different offerings: a four-seam fastball, a changeup, a slider, and a sweeper. That kind of diversity from a pitcher throwing triple digits is what makes evaluators excited.
In the third inning, Lagrange came within one pitch of an immaculate inning. Three up, three down, all strikeouts. The only reason it did not happen was an inning-opening ball to the leadoff hitter. After that, three consecutive at-bats ended on a 91.4 mph changeup, a 102.6 mph fastball, and a 102.3 mph fastball.
His first four-seamer of the night was 99.3 mph in the first inning. His last one of the night was 100 mph in the fifth. He maintained his velocity deep into the outing, which is as significant to the Yankees as the raw numbers.
Lagrange also pumped a first-pitch strike to 15 of the 21 batters he faced. And those were not fastballs thrown down the middle just to get ahead. He successfully went to his slider or sweeper on nine of those first pitches.
From the Dominican Republic to the edge of a big-league callup
Lagrange is the Yankees’ No. 2 overall prospect, ranked No. 69 in the MLB Pipeline Top 100. He is 22 years old. He signed with the Yankees in 2022 out of the Dominican Republic.
His path has not been smooth. A back injury in 2024 limited him to just 21 innings. The Yankees rookie came back in 2025 and posted 168 strikeouts in 120 innings across High-A and Double-A, the third-most strikeouts in all of minor league baseball that season.
Lagrangee earned the 2026 James P. Dawson Award in spring training, given to the most outstanding Yankees rookie during camp. He posted a 0.66 ERA with 13 strikeouts and just six hits allowed in 13 2/3 Grapefruit League innings. He is in his first season at Triple-A.
This is only his fifth start at the Triple-A level. Thursday was the best of the five.
Aaron Boone has already gone on record about what he sees from Lagrange. Last month, before any of these dominant Triple-A starts, Boone made his position clear.
“He’s definitely got everyone’s attention,” Boone said. “I love where he’s at. I would not be surprised if he is impacting us early, middle, later part of the season.” Based on what Lagrange did Thursday, the early part of that timeline is looking more realistic by the start.
Should the Yankees call him up now? What do you think?
