Yankees make first wave of spring training roster cuts

We are now nine days into the Grapefruit League exhibition season and Opening Day is probably a little closer than you think. In three and a half weeks, the Yankees will face the Giants at Yankee Stadium for Game No. 1, and by then, the roster will have to be down to 26 players.

The end of the first full week of spring training play is usually when the big league club starts sending out some of their long-shot 40-man roster members and non-roster invitees, and sure enough, the Yankees did just that following their 10-6 win over the Braves.

Below are the seven players no longer in MLB camp:

The most notable name in this batch is Austin Wells, who Marcus dubbed the No. 4 prospect in the organization. Unfortunately, the reason for Wells’ removal is the same as fellow catcher Josh Breaux: injury. The former is dealing with a broken rib and the latter hurt his elbow.

The rest of the players were pitchers who were extremely unlikely to make the roster, plus a catcher who has yet to play above A-ball in Anthony Seigler. Outfielder Elijah Dunham was also invited to big league camp as a non-roster invitee after hitting .248/.349/.448 for Double-A Somerset last year, but he’s been farmed out as well. Note that if healthy, any player can still reappear in spring road games since teams often use minor league camp members to fill out travel squads.

All seven players cut were in camp as NRIs. Here’s who remains from that initial batch:

RHP Matt Bowman
RHP Tyler Danish
RHP Demarcus Evans
RHP Ian Hamilton
RHP James Norwood
LHP Nick Ramirez
LHP Lisandro Santos
LHP Tanner Tully
RHP Ryan Weber
C Rodolfo Durán
C Carlos Narvaez
IF Jesus Bastidas
IF Andres Chaparro
IF Wilmer Difo
IF Anthony Volpe
IF Jamie Westbrook
OF Jake Bauers
OF Willie Calhoun
OF Jasson Domínguez
OF Michael Hermosillo
OF Billy McKinney
OF Rafael Ortega

All 40-man roster members, including prospects Oswald Peraza, Everson Pereira, and Estevan Florial are still around. Notably, so are top prospects Volpe and Domínguez! They’re both long shots for Opening Day in The Show (the latter has basically no chance, honestly, since he could use more seasoning above A-ball), but we get to enjoy them in exhibition games for a little bit longer.