The New York Yankees are promoting infield prospect Jorbit Vivas to the big leagues. SNY’s Andy Martino also added that veteran J.D. Davis is going on the injured list.
Vivas, 23, is the Yankees’ No. 15 prospect and primarily plays second base. New York acquired him from the Los Angeles Dodgers over the offseason for fellow infield prospect Trey Sweeney.
His 5-foot-9, 171 pound frame is deceiving as his lefty bat packs some sneaky power. Vivas has only hit .252 with five homers across two levels of A-ball and then Triple-A Scranton, but an injury has kept him to 37 games.
Last season, between Double and Triple-A in the Dodgers system, he hit .269 with 13 home runs and 25 steals, plus a .788 OPS. He puts the ball in play, takes his walks, and isn’t particularly strikeout prone either.
Considering former top prospect Oswald Peraza hasn’t performed well and is batting just .210 in the minors, Jorbit Vivas more than deserves his shot. The question, of course, is when he’ll actually play.
The where of Vivas playing for the Yankees is easy. He’ll help spell Gleyber Torres at second base. Torres has been hitting better as of late, .290 over his last ten games, but also has a nagging groin injury. His expiring contract also makes him likely to be traded at the deadline in a couple of weeks.
And cue what’s probably the real reason Vivas is getting the call to the show.
Mind you, Davis wasn’t getting much playing time to begin with. He was there to platoon with rookie Ben Rice at first base and that’s about it. Vivas will give Torres the occasional day off and maybe see some reps at third base too.
But if Vivas performs well from the start, then general manager Brian Cashman must act quickly on Torres. This is clearly him looking towards next season, and probably because he knows the infield trade market isn’t great.
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