The 2025 Yankees aren’t the best team in the Aaron Judge era. In fact, this is their worst-projected win total from either PECOTA or FanGraphs since 2017, when the two-time AL MVP was nothing more than a giant question. Things have changed a lot since then; the Yankees would go on to play in Game 7 of the ALCS, but of the 13 players featured in that game, only one still remains in pinstripes.
Veterans won’t stand in the way of a roster that will almost certainly graduate three more of their top 30 prospects while featuring three additional players drafted from 2019-2021. Only two of their everyday regulars in the lineup will begin the season at the age of 30 or older, a team that resembles none other than the 2017 team that accomplished more than most of its following iterations did.
Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner have praised their player development at both the Minor and Major League levels, and while they’ve produced prospects who have caught the eyes of other organizations, they have yet to form a stable core in the big leagues over that timeframe. This is their chance to do it overm led by the two-time AL MVP who brought the Yankees back into contention all those years ago.
A Crucial Stage in the Yankees’ Near Future Begins Today
I won’t be judging this iteration of the Yankees purely based on whether they win the 2025 World Series or not, as some other massive questions loom over the organization’s head. There’s a rising core of young talent joining two All-Star additions in Boston, an established core of bats in Baltimore ready to lead the league in Runs Scored, and two uncompetitive AL East rivals who refused to throw in the towel over the offseason with the Rays and Blue Jays making some notable additions.
Some wonder if the Yankees will even finish above .500 in 2025, as they’ll try and contend in a tightly grouped AL East that lacks a dominant force but also lacks a true bottom-feeder. Whether the Yankees make the postseason or not can no longer be viewed as a forgone conclusion, but rather a more likely possibility than not according to most projection systems. The reason for their skepticism is the same reason for the general skepticism around the Bronx Bombers for the next few seasons; what will their unproven young players do this year?
Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, Ben Rice, Jasson Dominguez, Oswaldo Cabrera, Will Warren, and Yoendrys Gomez all are slated to play big roles on this roster to start the season, but can they deliver?
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The Yankees know that Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe are some of the best defensive players in the world, but can both of them take steps forward with their bats? Both hitters improving on their 2024 seasons would give the Yankees a duo of 4-5 WAR players taken late in the first round, a phenomenal outcome which would push the team closer to the top of the American League East. Not only would this help their playoff odds, but it would give them a pair of All-Star caliber players they can roster for at least the next three seasons at a below-market value rate.
While the hype for Anthony Volpe was high and the excitement around Austin Wells was real, no Yankee prospect has more riding on their shoulders at the time of winning a full-time job than Jasson Dominguez has right now. They aren’t just asking him to settle into the Major Leagues, they are secretly hoping that he is an immediate force in their weakened lineup. Dubbed ‘The Martian’ right as the Yankees signed him as a 16-year-old, the switch-hitting outfielder is now 22-years-old and finally healthy for the start of a regular season.
He’s got above-average plate discipline to go with tons of power, and there’s a belief that he could steal 20-30 bases in his first full season. Do we see a 20-20 season with a high OBP? That kind of season would immediately put him in the conversation of a top 10 left fielder, and he’s not the only new Baby Bomber being added to the lineup. Ben Rice isn’t your typical prospect, the Dartmouth product was an afterthought after losing his last two collegiate seasons to COVID-19.
His meteoric rise began in 2023, and it has brought us to Opening Day 2025 where the Yankees have hope that he can be a middle-of-the-order bat. His loud Spring Training will now have to be followed up by a loud regular season full of home runs and walks. Will Warren now gets the chance to get important big-league development, as he’ll learn from struggling on a Major League mound and transform into a formidable middle of the rotation starter if he makes the right adjustments.
Yoendrys Gomez is out of Minor League options, but perhaps these bullpen injuries allow him to show the Yankees that he can contribute as a multi-inning reliever. These two pitchers are some of the few young arms on the roster, but their roles cannot be understated with how banged up the team’s staff is. Those six players all have the opportunity to make the Yankees a youth-driven group that can contend for years beyond this one.
Simply having money isn’t enough in a league where the Yankees don’t have more money than all 29 other teams; what they can provide outside of money is a big variable here.
Maybe the Dodgers did land Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki because of a West Coast bias, but there’s also Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman among other stars making the pitch. The Mets now have Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, Kodai Senga, and Brandon Nimmo who will make a pitch of centered around consistent contention, development, and family-friendly treatment.
Will the Red Sox and their Big Three make players beg their agents to bring them back to Fenway? That’s certainly a possibility.
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When the money is almost equal and the preferences location-wise are settled, will the Yankees be able to continue selling their unmatched consistency as an above-.500 team always in the hunt, or will other teams pitch a brighter future in the short and long run? The Baby Bombers are dead. Of the top 10 prospects in the organization according to Baseball America heading into 2018, none of them are still with the organization. They have just two players from the 10 hitters and five pitchers used in Game 1 of the 2018 ALDS remaining on the 2025 roster.
That era of Yankees’ baseball did not result in the success we hoped for, despite all the regular season wins and multiple AL East titles that group did not win a World Series. It’s a grim realization; one that serves to remind us all to take in life a day at a time, one that reminds us all of how fleeting things can be. The players we dreamed of retiring in Monument Park, the memories we believed would be right in the World Series documentary, the acquisitions that felt like the final piece for that title run. All of that is gone.
But today? A new era can begin. It was a youth movement in 2017 that propelled the team to acquire reigning NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton, a move that defines what it means to be the Yankees. It was this same youth movement which inspired Hal Steinbrenner to go the extra mile for Gerrit Cole, one of the game’s best big game pitchers. This youth movement brought them to the doors of a title, the players on the roster just never seemed to break through the door.
Now, the Yankees will need another youth movement to not only stay in contention this year, but to create a buzz around this team and a pitch for stars to flock to the Bronx.