TAMPA, Fla. — For the better part of five weeks, Carlos Lagrange did everything in his power to force the Yankees’ hand. The 22-year-old right-hander hit triple digits on the radar gun, carved up Grapefruit League lineups and even declared publicly that he was ready for the big leagues. By the time the Yankees sat down for Opening Day roster meetings this week, his name was in the middle of the conversation.
Then on Thursday, the Yankees pulled the plug.
The club officially reassigned Lagrange to minor league camp. It was a decision that manager Aaron Boone acknowledged was far more difficult than anyone expected it to be when spring training began.
A spring nobody saw coming
Lagrange entered Yankees camp as a near-certainty to start the year in the minors. He went 7-6 with a 3.22 ERA and 104 strikeouts in 78.1 innings at Double-A Somerset last season. The plan was simple: get a look at the hard-throwing Dominican and send him back to develop.
Instead, Lagrange became the talk of Yankees camp. In four Grapefruit League outings, he posted a 0.66 ERA with 13 strikeouts and four walks in 13.2 innings. The only run he allowed all spring came on a solo home run by Detroit’s Corey Julks back on Feb. 21. He threw 11 consecutive scoreless innings across his final three outings, with his fastball routinely sitting in the high 90s while touching 102 mph.
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Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, back from Tommy John surgery, was blown away.
“It’s like, silly. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Cole said. “It’s wild. I’m just blown away by the velocity every time.”
Yankees Opening Day starter Max Fried echoed the sentiment.
“I’ve never seen velocity like that, consistently and doing it over a bunch of innings,” Fried said. “He works really hard. He’s really open to a lot of information, and obviously his results speak for themselves. He’s been really good. He’ll definitely impact this team.”
The debate inside the Yankees’ front office
According to Randy Miller of NJ.com, “Manager Aaron Boone, coaches, team execs and other decision-makers talked about all of that after Lagrange followed last week’s four-inning, no-hits outing against the Blue Jays with four more scoreless innings on Wednesday against the Blue Jays. With the season opener less than a week away and final cuts on the horizon, the Yankees made a final decision on what to do with Lagrange for the start of the year.”
Here is what makes the Lagrange situation so unusual. The Yankees did not simply tip their cap and ship him out. They actually discussed keeping him. Boone, coaches, team executives and other decision-makers talked seriously about whether the club’s No. 2 prospect, ranked No. 79 overall by MLB Pipeline, should break camp with the big league roster.
“I don’t know if we were ever going to break with him, but I would say we’ve at least talked about it,” Boone said. “What he’s done the last six weeks definitely made us think maybe he’s closer than we think.”
The timing of the Yankees’ decision stung. The club sent Lagrange down on the same day left-hander Ryan Weathers imploded against the Blue Jays in Dunedin, allowing seven runs in three innings. That pushed Weathers’ spring ERA to 11.68. Righty Luis Gil has also struggled to a 6.28 ERA across five starts, still searching for the swing-and-miss that earned him the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year. The Yankees never seriously considered bumping either from the rotation in Lagrange’s favor, but the gap in production made the move difficult to digest.
Lagrange’s response and Boone’s message
A day before the Yankees’ decision, Lagrange was asked through interpreter Marlon Abreu whether he felt ready for the majors. Before Abreu could translate, Lagrange answered in English.
“YES!” he said, drawing laughter from the room. He then listed his growth areas in Spanish: “The improvement attacking the zone. Being able to execute with two strikes more consistently. Staying calm on the mound, regardless of the situation. I think that kind of gives me a good idea that I’m ready to compete.”
Yankees catcher Austin Wells, who caught Lagrange’s final spring outing against the Red Sox on Wednesday, offered a blunt assessment.
“Yeah, I don’t have any doubts he could help us right now,” Wells said. “I don’t know what the process is or what that’s going to look like, but the way he pitched today he could definitely get a lot of outs for us.”
Yankees manager Boone gave Lagrange a pep talk while delivering the news.
“My message to him: ‘Be where your feet are. There’s still a lot of room to continue to grow and to continue to get better and don’t be in a race to get up here,'” Boone said. “‘You just continue to go do your thing, continue to work on the things you know you need to work on and that time will come when it’s meant to be.'”
A fast track back to the Bronx
The Yankees plan to send Lagrange to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre rather than back to Double-A, a clear sign that the organization views him as close to big league ready. He may also pitch in the Yankees’ exhibition games against the Cubs in Arizona before camp breaks. The club has not ruled out using him as a bullpen weapon when the time comes, even though they want him to keep starting in the minors.
“First off, I’m proud of him,” Boone said. “His work ethic, his confidence, his adaptability, his coachability, his competitiveness. The buzz around him and the talk around him, he’s earned that with how excellent he’s pitched here.”
General manager Brian Cashman told the New York Post that Lagrange had “been fantastic” and had “opened a lot of eyes” during camp.
“I just knew before this spring started that he would be the talk of camp because he throws 100-plus,” Cashman said.
The consensus inside the Yankees organization is that Lagrange’s wait will not be long.
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