TAMPA — As Carlos Lagrange threw a glove-popping bullpen session on Saturday morning, several members of the Yankees’ front office watched with a curious eye.
The group included pro scouting director, Matt Daley; assistant pro scouting director, Adam Charnin-Aker; director of baseball operations, Matt Ferry; vice president of baseball operations, Tim Naehring; and director of quantitative analysis, David Grabiner. A handful of coaches, including Matt Blake and Preston Claiborne, and Aaron Boone also observed Lagrange, who is attending his first big league camp at age 22.
The flame-throwing pitching prospect didn’t display the greatest command, but his fastball, capable of hitting triple digits when fully built up, sat around 95 mph. The 6-7, 248-pound Dominican righty also showed off plenty of spin.
“We’re excited about him for good reason,” Boone said, noting that Lagrange’s size and the downhill trajectory of his delivery make him an imposing presence on the mound. “I think Carlos has a very bright future.”
Boone isn’t the only one who believes that.
“He thinks like an ace,” said Claiborne, who previously worked closely with Lagrange in the minors. “He prepares like an ace, and that’s what he wants to be.”
#Yankees pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange pumps some gas at the end of this clip. pic.twitter.com/nUlcO7kTLk
— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) February 14, 2026
Lagrange, who didn’t start playing baseball until he was 14, still has some developing to do before he can achieve such status, as he has yet to pitch at Triple-A. But the consensus top-100 prospect turned heads with his scintillating stuff in 2025, recording a 3.53 ERA and a 33.4% strikeout rate over 120 innings split between High-A and Double-A.
He actually fared better at the upper level, posting a 3.22 ERA over 78.1 innings.
With a strong season in the rearview and the Yankees getting an up-close look at Lagrange this spring, he’s already receiving plenty of attention from outside the organization. It hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“I saw a lot of posts on Instagram and Twitter about me,” Lagrange said. “The fans are excited for me, but my focus is on doing my job and doing my best.”
Lagrange’s all-business approach hasn’t gone unnoticed either, as the Yankees have talked up his personality just as much as they have his skills.
“He’s just one of those kids over there that you just get really great makeup reports on,” Boone said. “He’s a leader, takes initiative. He’s got a lot of the intangibles, as well as a ton of talent.”
What Boone is seeing in person for the first time is something that Claiborne has known about for a while.
The former big leaguer recounted how, back in 2024, Lagrange didn’t perform up to his own high standards, totaling 35 walks over 29.2 innings between Rookie ball, Single-A and the Arizona Fall League.
“Things did not go well for him,” said Claiborne, the Yankees’ Single-A pitching coach that season. “He wanted to get better at throwing strikes, so he called us and said, ‘I’m going home for two weeks, and then I’m coming to Tampa, and I want to work on my mechanics.’
“So credit goes to him. He showed up on his own and on his own dime. He trained at the [Himes] complex for a long time going into the 2025 season. He’s special, because the kid cares. He’s very disciplined, and he’s very dedicated.”
Claiborne mentioned that minor league pitching coaches Demetre Kokoris and Peter Larson have also aided Lagrange, who received a measly $10,000 signing bonus as an international free agent in 2022.
While the pitcher’s work ethic helped him lower his walk rate from 20% in 2024 to 12.3% in 2025, Lagrange is still on the wild side. He acknowledged that after his bullpen, stating that his control is his biggest focus this spring despite taking pride in the strides he’s already made.
“For him, it’s just a matter of continuing to get better with the command and strike-throwing,” Boone said.
Boone also said that Lagrange reminds him of another tall, hard-throwing righty: Dellin Betances. It was an intriguing comparison, as the former Yankee began his pro career as a starter before becoming one of baseball’s nastiest relievers from 2014-2018.
There has been some speculation that Lagrange’s future could be as a reliever, which would let his electric arsenal play up in bursts. The Yankees, meanwhile, are short on sure things in their bullpen right now.
Could a shift to the pen expedite Lagrange’s big league debut?
Blake, Boone and Brian Cashman have all said, or at least hinted, that Lagrange and Elmer Rodríguez, another highly-touted pitching prospect in camp, could factor into the uncertain bullpen. The Yankees would like to keep the two on a starter’s routine – and get them some more minor league seasoning – but Cashman did note that “a lot of major league starters historically break in out of the pen when they get their feet wet.”
“It depends on how the competition is playing out. It’s easy to always say you want to keep guys in the starting rotation,” Cashman added. “But at the same time, you gotta rob Peter to pay Paul at times and do that balancing act where you gotta service the major league club.”
Regardless of his role, it is easy to imagine a world where Lagrange helps the Yankees this season.
Blake has repeatedly said that he, as well as Rodríguez and Ben Hess, another prospect, are ahead of where Cam Schlittler was at this time last year. Claiborne echoed that sentiment, recalling how Schlittler earned multiple promotions and burst onto the major league scene last season after making the most of his first big league camp.
“He’s made a lot of changes in a short amount of time to warrant being invited to big league camp and showcase himself for us,” Claiborne said of Lagrange. “As long as the development continues, and he continues to throw strikes and be a professional, I can see him impacting or helping us at the big league level.”
