Randal Grichuk's Chance to Make Yankees Opening Day Roster

The New York Yankees have signed a few veterans to minor league contracts this season with right-handed outfielder Randal Grichuk being the latest.

"The Yankees Killer" has had a ton of success against this team in his career, but now the Yankees are curious what the 12-year veteran can do while on their team.

Grichuk has a career .819 OPS against lefties in his career as this move has been long discussed.

The Yankees weren't necessarily dead-set on adding Grichuk, but after a month or so of speculation they finally added a right-handed outfielder. The question is, can he make the opening day roster?

Yankees Decision to Sign Grichuk Makes Sense

Randal Grichuk had a .703 OPS and .273 OBP against LHP in 2025, so why did they sign him?

🔹Expected Stats vs LHP: .796 xOPS | .338 xwOBA ⚾️
🔹Damage Rates: 13.3% Barrel% | 92.5 Avg EV🚀
🔹Strong Bat Speed: 74.1 MPH Avg Bat Speed 🔥

Low-risk deal. pic.twitter.com/VKuHEatpeE
— Ryan Garcia (@RyanGarciaESM) February 26, 2026

If the Yankees are eyeing a fourth bench spot to be occupied by an outfielder, it'll come down to either Grichuk or Jasson Dominguez. Grichuk is still extremely new to the organization after bouncing around with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Kansas City Royals last year.

Since 2021 he's played for five different teams and is looking to find a permanent home moving forward. At 34-years old, this is not a groundbreaking signing for the Yankees. At the end of the day, it's a move similar to them bringing back Paul Goldschmidt though that seems like an insult to Goldy.

The Yankees got great production out of the veteran first baseman last year and know he'll be in their lineup quite often as he's also a monster against lefties. Grichuk could fill that void in the outfield though he still has quite a bit of competition.

Randal Grichuk vs. Jasson Dominguez

Randal Grichuk killed the Yankees.

He had an .819 OPS against them, but it feels like it should be higher.

Grichuk is nothing more than a depth move, and he was bad last year after a decent 2024. His peripherals had some promise, though, and maybe that's what the Yankees were… pic.twitter.com/2NqbmF9wWW
— Joe Randazzo (@YankeeLibrarian) February 26, 2026

There have been rumors of the Yankees potentially sending Dominguez to Triple-A to start the year, something that would be music to Grichuk's ears. Even if that happens, Grichuk could be close behind.

A backup catcher and Goldy are locks to fill two of those bench spots as Amed Rosario is in the mix as well. The team could certainly use another outfielder on their bench, it's just a matter of how they want to maneuver their roster.

Grichuk could make their decision extremely easy by raking in Spring Training and would leave the team no choice. He slashed .228/.273/.401 a year ago with an OPS of .674. His -0.8 WAR was far from the greatest, especially since it was at 2.2 the year prior. At the end of the day, this is a risk free signing for the Yankees and no one really expects Grichuk to make the Opening Day roster.

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