Former Dodgers Top Prospect Called Up to Replace Injured Yankees Star

The time has come for Jorbit Vivas to make the Dodgers regret trading him to the New York Yankees.

One year and five months after the Dodgers traded him to the Bronx in the deal that sent pitcher Victor Gonzalez east and brought shortstop Trey Sweeney to the Dodgers organization, Vivas is in the Yankees' lineup for the first time.

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Friday, Vivas was promoted from Triple-A to take the place of injured infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. on the Yankees' active roster. Unlike Vivas' three-day promotion last summer, and another three-day promotion in April, this time the Yankees have the 24-year-old infielder in their lineup.

Jorbit Vivas makes his MLB debut tonight #Yankees https://t.co/aaXbdpnaWd
— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) May 2, 2025

Vivas is batting ninth and playing second base against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium.

The promotion comes on the heels of a strong showing with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate. In 26 games, Vivas slashed .319/.426/.436 with more walks (15) than strikeouts (8).

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Vivas, 24, was signed by the Dodgers as an amateur out of Venezuela in July 2017. He needed five years in the system to reach Triple-A Oklahoma City, and his bat (.633 OPS in 26 games with the Dodgers' top farm team) never caught up to his prowess with the glove.

I covered Vivas a lot when he was at Rancho Cucamonga and in the Dodgers system. There were lots of other players who were more physical or had bigger tools, but Vivas always outplayed them. Skilled hitter who worked hard, and now he’ll make his big league debut. https://t.co/SmDE95PXbH
— Kyle Glaser (@KyleAGlaser) May 2, 2025

Vivas reached as high as number 9 in the Dodgers' organizational prospect rankings, according to MLB Pipeline.

The Dodgers opted to hitch their fortunes to Sweeney, whom they subsequently traded to Detroit at the July 2024 trade deadline in the deal that sent Jack Flaherty to Los Angeles.

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With 20-20 hindsight, it's difficult to look back on the Vivas trade with regret. Although both he and Sweeney went on to make their big league debuts with their new teams, Flaherty was invaluable in helping the Dodgers win the 2024 World Series.

The veteran right-hander went 6-2 in 10 regular season starts for an injury-depleted Dodgers rotation — after the Yankees reportedly backed out of a trade that would have sent Flaherty to New York, citing concerns in his medical records.

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Flaherty made five more starts in the postseason, and the Dodgers defeated the Yankees in five games to win the championship.

Vivas, meanwhile, gets his first crack at big league pitching after making major gains over the last year as a hitter. He posted a .225 batting average and .713 OPS in 93 games with the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate last year across 93 games.

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