Carlos

Lagrange

The Yankees made headlines by moving the flame-throwing Lagrange to the bullpen earlier this week and he responded with a dominant performance in his first outing. The 23-year-old top prospect projects as an impact contributor for the Yankees as a multi-inning weapon during the second half of the season. The move undoubtedly caps Lagrange’s immediate fantasy appeal, but scouts and evaluators always seemed to envision him as more of a fit as a high-leverage reliever than traditional starter. He’s a name to know for fantasy purposes, especially in deeper mixed leagues as one of the more intriguing young arms in the game.

There is no indication that this is a permanent move, but the Yankees believe that Lagrange’s triple-digit fastball could help their big league team as a reliever this season. The 23-year-old prospect has an 11.5 percent walk rate at Triple-A this season, so there’s a good chance that the bullpen could be his long-term home anyway, but we know it will be where he starts his MLB career, sometime over the summer. The shift to the bullpen does sap all of his fantasy value in redraft leagues.

Lagrange struck out eight, but he walked three and allowed three home runs on the day. The 22-year-old has intriguing upside, but has a 4.76 ERA in 28 1/3 Triple-A innings this season. His 13.3 percent walk rate is also too high, so there are some continued kinks to work out.

Lagrange also walked three and struck out four while throwing just 55 percent of his pitches for strikes. Lagrange was super exciting in spring training, and he has plenty of upside, but he also has a 1.38 WHIP in 24 innings at Triple-A to go along with a 3.75 ERA, so there is some seasoning left to do.

It was a deflating end to an otherwise electric spring for Lagrange as he served up a staggering nine hits, including home runs to Michael Busch and Alex Bregman, on a 93-degree afternoon in the Arizona desert. The hard-throwing 22-year-old top pitching prospect appears poised to reach New York at some point later this season but was unlikely to make the club’s season-opening roster, especially since he’s pitched just 78 1/3 innings above High-A in his career. He’ll marinade a bit longer on the doorstep of the big leagues but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him come up as a dominant multi-inning reliever at some point later this year.

There had been growing speculation that the 22-year-old phenom could displace Luis Gil in the Yankees’ Opening Day rotation after his terrific showing during Grapefruit League play, but he’ll open up the season in the rotation at Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre instead. Look for him to make starts for the Yankees at some point during the 2026 campaign.

Lagrange averaged 99.6 mph with his fastball, which was actually down from the 100.3 mph he came in at during his three previous outings. His control has also been better than expected, as he’s walked only four in 13 2/3 innings. Throwing like he is right now, there’s little doubt he could help the Yankees immediately as a middle reliever. However, it remains nearly certain that he’ll spend the first part of the season starting games in the minors.

Lagrange generated nine swinging strikes on 19 swings and topped 102 mph five times with his fastball. The flame-throwing 22-year-old right-hander’s top-of-the-scale velocity puts him in a unique class from every other pitching prospect in the game. The Yankees will continue trying to iron out his command issues and develop him as a starter in the upper minors. The general consensus among scouts and evaluators is that he’s ticketed for a relief role where his raw stuff could make him one of the more dominant high-leverage arms in the game.

Lagrange twice hit 102 mph on the gun today and averaged 100.1 mph with his fastball. He’s going to be a whole lot to handle in Triple-A this year (maybe back to Double-A to start the year), but he does have some work to do in the control department before he’ll be ready to help the Yankees.

He issued two walks, with both coming in his third inning of work. The 6-foot-7 Lagrange maxed out at 102.4 mph today. If he stays healthy and continues to gain ground in the control department, the sky is the limit for the 22-year-old. He probably won’t be a factor as a starting pitcher for the Yankees this season, but the team could throw him into the bullpen mix late in the year and see what happens.