Of the 33 members of the Yankees' active roster, only eight are over 30 years old. Of the starting lineup, including all five starters, only two have eclipsed 30 years. The average age (adjusted for at bats and eligibility) for the 2018 team is 28.7 years old and the year before was 28.6. The 2014 team was 32.8. The 2009 World Series championship team was 30.6, the third highest that season.
2008 had the league-high average age of 31.4. You have to go all the way back to 2002 to find a team with an average age under 30 and even then it's literally 29.9.
Point being, these Yankees are not the Yankees of old. No longer are they signing Jacoby Ellsbury for $153 million over seven years. No longer are they signing Alex Rodriguez for 10 years and $275 million or CC Sabathia for seven years and $161 million. Rather, they've built their roster and farm system through excellent trades and simply drafting well. Not to say they don't have veterans, as CC Sabathia is still on the roster and is 37, Aroldis Chapman is 30, David Robertson is 33, and Brett Gardner is 34.
The old guys
The aforementioned Sabathia, Chapman, Robertson, and Gardner are not the only veterans on the roster. Dellin Betances is 30, Masahiro Tanaka is 29, Adam Warren is 30, Austin Romine is 29, Didi Gregorious is 28, Neil Walker is 32, Jacoby Ellsbury is 34, and Giancarlo Stanton is 29.
These players aren't retirement home ready, but they are getting older and have a wealth of experience.
Sabathia has been one of the more clutch postseason performers for New York. Over his illustrious career, he has a 3.72 postseason ERA with 10 postseason wins. Aroldis Chapman has 207 saves over his nine-year career. Betances is a four-time All-Star.
Didi Gregorious currently leads the league with 27 RBIs, a .787 slugging percentage and 1.229 OPS. Giancarlo Stanton hit 59 home runs last season and won MVP.
Brett Gardner has been the starting left fielder since 2009. Aroldis Chapman is the closer. Betances is (when he's not throwing the ball all over the place) an exceptional setup man.
Didi Gregorious is cementing his name as the best shortstop. Giancarlo Stanton is an MVP. Masahiro Tanaka is one of the highly-touted Japanese free agents to enter the league.
The prospects
The Yankees' top 10 prospects before the season, according to the official MLB website, are as follows: Gleyber Torres, Estevan Florial, Justus Sheffield, Miguel Andujar, Albert Abreu, Chance Adams, Luis Medina, Freicer Perez, Domingo Acevedo and Thairo Estrada. Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres have already debuted, so they'll be discussed later.
Estevan Florial is the Yankees' number two prospect and number 44 on the MLB top 100. Justus Sheffield, the Yankees' number three, is number 48. Albert Abreu and Chance Adams, numbers five and six, are 75 and 76, respectively.
The remaining prospects aren't on the list.
Florial has hit .277 with 29 home runs and 52 stolen bases over his four-year minor league career. Justus Sheffield has a 3.26 ERA over five minor league seasons. Albert Abreu has a 3.15 ERA over four seasons. Chance Adams has a 2.47 ERA amassed over four seasons.
It's safe to say, the future is bright in New York. Wait, isn't that something you say about teams who aren't good? "Hey, we stink, but the future is bright!" That's not supposed to apply to the team who went to Game 7 in the ALCS with the eventual champs and a team that is a World Series contender this year. Part of that is because the players they had up excelled. The other part is the prospects and young guys who came up and knocked it out of the park, literally.
The young guns
Last season, Aaron Judge barely won the right field starting job in Spring Training. The rest, as we say, is history. Judge would go on to be one of the best outfielders in the game. Gary Sanchez, who debuted in 2016, hit 33 home runs and inserted his name as the best offensive catcher in the game. The duo became the most prolific home run-hitting duo in baseball with 85 home runs between the two. Tyler Austin, who is filling in for the injured Greg Bird (their prized first base prospect who can't quite get healthy), is batting .254 with 33 home runs over 66 games, including .296 with four home runs this season.
Luis Severino is one of the premier starters in the league. He has a career 3.47 ERA, partially bloated due to a 5.83 ERA in 2016.
There was concern that he would have to be moved to the bullpen, but now he is an elite starter with the league's fastest average fastball at 97.5 mph. He was third in Cy Young voting last year and an All-Star. His first postseason game was a nightmare, giving up three runs and only recording one out. He bounced back against Cleveland and Houston, however.
Gleyber Torres, the number five prospect in all of baseball, debuted on April 22, got his first hit on April 23 and his first RBI soon after. Miguel Andujar, who spent the first part of the season in Triple-A Scranton, is off to a scorching start, hitting .295 with 12 extra base hits. He's one of three rookies to have a seven-game extra base hit streak before turning 24.
Ronald Torreyes wasn't one of the highly touted prospects, but can play most infield positions and hits well.
Tyler Wade originally won the second base job after a very good Spring Training. He's since cooled down, making way for Torres to be called up. Greg Bird, formerly the number three Yankees prospect and number 80 overall, has been slowed down by injuries. Last postseason, however, he was healthy and played well for New York, including hitting a home run in a 1-0 win on the brink of elimination against Cleveland. Without that run, it's very unlikely that they end up in Game 7 of the ALCS. Clint Frazier, acquired in a trade in 2015, has seen limited time due to injuries as well. Frazier was formerly the number 15 overall prospect and has been in the Majors despite being on the DL.
Conclusion
The future is bright. The present is bright. The past...not so much. Although, without that ugly, old past, the future and present wouldn't be so bright. The Yankees traded a few months of Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, Carlos Beltran, Starlin Castro and other aging stars in order to retool their crippled farm system. They did just that, and then some. The prospects arrived early and they arrived with a bang. Not many teams can brag about having a top five roster and a top five farm system. Times are good in the Bronx.
