Zack

Granite

Granite was released by the Yankees after failing to make their crowded Opening Day roster. The 28-year-old outfielder will provide organizational depth for the White Sox at Triple-A Charlotte this season.

Granite spent all of 2019 at Triple-A in the Rangers’ organization, batting .290/.331/.375 with three homers and 25 stolen bases. The 27-year-old former Twins prospect will give the Yanks some depth at all three outfield spots.

Granite spent a couple days at the MLB level in May but never got into a game. The 27-year-old outfielder slashed .290/.331/.375 with three home runs and 25 stolen bases over 119 games in the Pacific Coast League.

Granite was only up for a couple days. Reliever David Carpenter is replacing him on the roster.

Granite hasn’t appeared in a major league game since 2017 and was batting just .291/.325/.362 over 206 plate appearances this season at the Triple-A level. The 26-year-old holds no fantasy relevance.

This move is a pretty strong indication that Joey Gallo (groin) will be ready for Opening Day. Granite showed good base-stealing ability with four thefts this spring in Cactus League play, but the 26-year-old is somewhat buried on the Rangers’ organizational outfield depth chart for the time being.

Granite, who was acquired from the Twins via trade earlier this month, posted a pair of singles and swiped two bases. The 26-year-old outfielder is up to four thefts on the spring. He possesses plenty of speed, but doesn’t offer much offensive upside otherwise. Given the league-wide decline in stolen bases, Granite should be on radar screens in some AL-only formats.

Granite had been designated for assignment last week. The speedy center fielder was awful last season at the Triple-A level but batted .338 at Triple-A in 2017. He profiles as an extra outfielder.

The move clears a spot for the newly-signed Marwin Gonzalez on the 40-man roster. Granite appeared in 40 games with the Twins in 2017, but he played exclusively in Triple-A last year (while batting just .211/.282/.245 in 68 games) when healthy.

Granite, 24, hit .295/.347/.382 with four homers and 56 stolen bases for Chattanooga this past season. The speedy outfielder is now protected from the Rule 5 Draft.