Yankees Announce Flurry of Minor League Roster Moves Including Promotion of Surging Pitching Prospect

The process of a minor league season is full of moving parts, particularly for a contender like the New York Yankees, which always has scouts populate the stands and midseason trades that pillage the depth.

Over the course of the season, there's progression and development among the team's top prospects. The goal of any organization is for a prospect to develop enough in-season to earn a promotion to the next level before the season is over, something we've most notably seen with the rise of George Lombard Jr. from Double-A to MLB over the last few months.

In the latest batch of minor league promotions, a pair of highly touted prospects moved up in the upper minors amid strong seasons that have elevated them to two of the most promising prospects in the entire system.

Underrated Yankees prospect takes another step towards joining the big league club

Typically, most players drafted beyond the 10th round of the MLB Draft are throwaways, doomed to be minor league depth for their entire professional careers. Some of these players get a cup of coffee in the majors, and even fewer become regulars or stars in the bigs, such as 2021 11th-rounder Ben Rice.

The player in the system who currently has the best chance of being one of those regulars from that group is Xavier Rivas, the Yankees' 16th-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft out of Ole Miss, who has quickly risen to being one of the best pitching prospects in the organization. On Tuesday, the Yankees announced that Rivas was being promoted from Double-A Somerset to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

No matter where he's gone in his brief professional career, the 24-year-old has flashed his impressive stuff, but it's been his ability to slowly conquer every level that's impressed the organization and prospect evaluators.

In 2025, he was mediocre in 10 starts with Single-A Tampa. But Rivas got a late promotion to High-A Hudson Valley, where he recorded a 1.23 ERA with 44 strikeouts in 29 innings (five starts).

Since June 11, Xavier Rivas (@Yankees No. 21 Prospect) had been downright UNHITTABLE prior to his Triple-A callup

🔹1.18 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and .120 BAA with 57 K in 45.2 IP
🔹Leads @MiLB in ERA and BAA in that span
🔹4 QS in last 5 GS (T-1st in MiLB during stretch) pic.twitter.com/EfBxKCP55S
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) August 11, 2026

That impressive stretch earned him a starting rotation spot in Double-A Somerset in 2026, where he struggled mightily over the first two months of the season before a complete rebirth once the calendar hit June.

Since the start of June, he's pitched to a 1.45 ERA over 49.2 innings, combined with 66 strikeouts to 22 walks in 10 starts, earning him a promotion to Triple-A.

Rivas' production has been based on his elite secondaries, boasting a 55-grade slider and a 60-grade changeup (also characterized as a splitter), according to MLB Pipeline, but he lacks the fastball most top prospects have. In his last stint with Statcast data in Single-A Tampa last July, he maxed out at 92-93 on his four-seamer, but the 6'4" righty might still have room to build velocity.

It's more likely that Rivas' path to becoming a full-time big leaguer lies in the bullpen, but he's put himself on the doorstep of the majors by producing at every level and daring the organization to keep challenging.

The jump from Double-A to Triple-A for pitchers is bigger than it's ever been, so it'll be on him to separate himself from the Brendan Becks and Kyle Carrs of the world that currently sit in front of him on the rotational depth chart.

Yankees might have another infield prospect worth keeping an eye on (not named Dax Kilby)

For much of the season, the hitters that many people have been watching down in High-A Hudson Valley have been former third-round pick Kaeden Kent and seven-figure international prospect Roderick Arias, but as the former got traded to his father's longtime organization and the latter earned a promotion a week ago, the focus returned to one of HV's most consistent bats who will now be moving on up himself.

Core Jackson, the team's fifth-round pick last July, has had an incredibly strong and consistent 2026 campaign, battling two minor injuries that cost him a few weeks on the injured list. The 22-year-old out of Utah finished his 78-game stint with the Renegades slashing .259/.369/.474 with a 118 wRC+, but like Rivas, he's done much better as the season progressed.

Since May 28, Jackson is slashing .269/.381/.538 with a 134 wRC+, lowering his strikeout rate to under 18 percent while walking 14 percent of the time. He's getting to his power significantly more while being a menace on the basepaths, going 32-for-39 on stolen bases this season. His steady progression has been more than enough for the developmental staff to give him another challenge with the big jump to Double-A.

Hudson Valley's Core Jackson swinging the bat during an Opening Day against Wilmington. — New York Yankees infield prospect Core Jackson is now taking his talents to Double-A Somerset. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Jackson is one of those prospects that you feel more than comfortable with defensively, leaving more emphasis on his bat. He's a 55-grade defender with a strong arm, allowing him to handle both shortstop and third base, although the latter may be his home in the future. He entered this year with hit tool concerns on top of middling power after a bad cup of coffee in late 2025, but has cut down on his swing-and-miss while making better swing decisions in 2026.

As Jackson rises the minor league ladder, he'll likely have to face the issues of his past as an off-field distraction. Despite the character concerns, he was given an underslot signing bonus of $147,500 by the Yankees after drafting him last July.

An under-the-radar relief prospect gets to the cusp of the big leagues

While a lot of fans may have heard of Rivas and Jackson through the grapevine, there is one prospect who also earned a promotion on Tuesday that you may not have ever heard of.

Hayden Merda was selected in the 17th round in 2022 out of Division II Azusa Pacific University, and through the first few years of his pro career, he just looked like one of those guys who would be released in the churn of the minor league system. That held especially true after a torn UCL forced him to undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the 2024 season.

But Merda emerged from the other side of surgery with a livelier fastball than before, one that made him stand out briefly in High-A in 2025. Given a chance at a tougher level in Double-A, the 26-year-old has shined, posting a 3.67 ERA and 3.26 FIP over 41.2 innings with a blistering 14.5 strikeouts per nine innings. His 25.8 K-BB% stood as one of the best marks in Double-A before Tuesday, when he joined Rivas on the bus from Somerset to Scranton.

Prior to his promotion to @swbrailriders, Hayden Merda’s .376 K% led all Double-A relievers with over 40 IP this season 😤 pic.twitter.com/UBIv9tINv5
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) August 11, 2026

The presence of Statcast information in Triple-A will give us a better read on that electric fastball, but readings from a brief spring training cameo in March saw him sit 96 mph on his fastball and sinker with 16 inches of induced vertical break, a mark that might even be a bit lower than what he's been sitting in Somerset.

With a bunch of the Yankees' bullpen depth being traded to the Nationals in the Luis García Jr. trade, keep an eye on Merda down the stretch as someone who could be considered for Rule 5 protection ahead of 2027.

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