Unique Pitching Prospect Should Be Yankees' 1st Call-Up Once Season Resumes

The Yankees have one of the most electric pitchers rising through the minors, and even with his limited professional experience, they should think about giving him a shot this season.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone would benefit from promoting this prospect to the MLB lineup after the All-Star Break. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

The Yankees have another arm rising through their minor league system with little fanfare, being eclipsed by the likes of Carlos Lagrange, Ben Hess and Elmer Rodríguez. That's Ben Grable, who wowed the baseball world at the Futures Game with a dynamic fastball that isn't defined by its high velocity, but by the way it dances into the strike zone and gets batters to swing-and-miss at an outrageous level.

While Grable pitched at Indiana University just last year before being drafted in the 11th round of the 2025 MLB Draft, there's a real opportunity for him to potentially get some innings in the big leagues this season. It's less about experience and more about how that fastball can play in the majors.

If it's anything as advertised, the Yankees should give Grable a shot, especially since they don't know when Lagrange—who's on the injured list with a right shoulder injury—will be healthy enough to pitch.

According to the New York Post's Mark W. Sanchez, his four-seam fastball, which averages 96.1 mph, generates "20.5 to 21 inches of induced vertical break," making it appear to batters at the plate that the ball is rising. The three pitchers who get breaks like that are Alex Vesia, Tobias Myers, and Dylan Lee, and neither of them has Grable's velocity.

Ben Grable poured in 1.2 scoreless innings to increase his scoreless streak to 9.1 consecutive innings.

He's got 11 K to just three walks in that span! pic.twitter.com/MpnvrSwZzN

— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) June 28, 2026

"It's a unique profile and shape in comparison to a lot of other fastballs out there," Double-A Somerset manager James Cooper said, according to Sanchez. "Just when teams were starting to figure that out, that's when he started landing the secondary stuff, and I think that's what's been making him special."

In his first minor-league season, Grable has 49 strikeouts in 31 innings. At High-A, he had a 100th-percentile 58.6% strikeout rate, according to Prospect Savant, along with being in the 97th percentile for strike percentage (69.1%) and weighted on-base average (.203).

The strikeouts have continued after being moved up to the Somerset Patriots. Grable has accumulated 17 in 7 2/3 innings pitched at Double-A.

The comp for Ben Grable

If calling Grable up seems too soon, just look at what the rival Blue Jays did with Trey Yesavage last year.

In 2024, Yesavage was pitching for the East Carolina Pirates. By the end of 2025, he had a cup of coffee in the big leagues in the regular season and was carving up the Dodgers on the biggest stage. Guys get paid a lot of money to do that, and have failed, but Yesavage did it despite barely getting his feet wet in a Blue Jays uniform that season.

The Yankees can even look to Cam Schlittler as a way to gauge that conquering all levels of the minors is a little overrated if a guy has the stuff.

Schlittler had 25 1/3 innings in Triple-A and 85 1/3 in Double-A, never cracking 100 at any level. He has proven to be one of the best pitchers in the sport. Grable would have even fewer innings, but if Grable's fastball has a shot at getting whiffs in the big leagues, it wouldn't hurt to give him a shot.

"His stuff's pretty electric."

Ben Grable tells @mmargaux8 that he models his game after Cam Schlittler: pic.twitter.com/kJ8GTxIf3H

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) July 12, 2026

The Yankees would have to clear room on their 40-man roster to make that happen. That could come either through a trade or by designating someone for assignment.

Even if they weren't planning to do this heading into the season, it is something the Yankees should consider. Young pitchers across baseball have given their big-league clubs boosts.

Aside from Yesavage and Schlittler, he could be the Yankees' version of Francisco Rodríguez in 2002. K-Rod pitched all of five innings in the regular season before dominating in October, to the tune of a 1.93 ERA over 18 2/3 innings with 28 strikeouts.

The sport's history has shown that, if the stuff is there, the pitcher should get their shot. It seems like the stuff is there for Grable, and the Yankees shouldn't ignore that for much longer.