The Prospect Notebook: 4/3-4/5

Photo via New York Yankees/Getty Images

Welcome to my first scouting notebook for the 2026 season. Each week, I will make it a point to watch in detail several of the players in the system that catch my eye and deliver detailed analysis from what I see. This week, we look at a debuting arm, the top prospect in the Yankees’ system, a top pitching prospect, and a buzzing reliever.

Pico Kohn, LHP

Line: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 1.59 ERA, 4.32 FIP

One of the outings I was most excited to watch was the debut of the Yankees 4^th round pick. As the highest selected pitcher from this most recent draft class, there are expectations on the 23-year-old southpaw this season. I took the time to watch his outing and get a feel for where he is as a pitcher.

The first thing to note about Kohn is his release. Standing on the first base side of the rubber, he uses a very wide release to create a very uncomfortable angle, creating a lot of horizontal movement to his pitches. Despite the awkward delivery, I found Kohn has fairly sound mechanics. While he lacks some of the pure stuff others in the system possess, the delivery add some much-needed deception.

Turning our attention to the pitches, Kohn’s fastball, while lacking velocity, does have some potential. Right now, the four-seam sits in the low 90’s but has some nice horizontal movement that can help from giving it a flat shape. However, when the pitch does come out steep, which seems to be the main issue, it can get rocked. While he did a good job limiting hard contact, most of the well hit pitches came on the fastball, including the home run he surrendered. There were a couple foul balls and one nice defensive play that saved the pitch from further damage. While the fastball can play up vs lefties to do the extreme angle, I currently worry about it vs righties. He got some nice whiffs with it against hitters from both sides, but it remains very susceptible to damage.

His main secondary pitch is his slider. Also lacking velocity, this pitch can be a little loopy. While it can certainly be tightened up, you see why this has the bones of a plus pitch. I was highly impressed by his command of the pitch. Up, down, inside, out; Kohn was landing this pitch just about everywhere he wanted. When he did miss, it wasn’t often in the zone. I was most impressed by how he used this pitch against righties. He would consistently pepper the outside edge of the plate. Furthermore, he was unafraid to bury it inside. It is easily his best pitch right now, and one that can carry him to the upper levels of the minors.

This third pitch was a sparsely used curveball. While this pitch, when delivered right, can have some very nice depth. However, I felt sometimes it could blend a bit with the slider. Improving this pitch to create clearer separation will help. In future outings I would like to see further use of a 4^th pitch. I know he has flashed a changeup and sinker before, so I will be keeping an eye on that. Overall, it was a very encouraging outing for one of the now better arms in the system.

George Lombard Jr., SS

Line: 9 AB, 6 H, 1 HR, 0 K, 1 BB, 1 SB, 1 CS

Lombard Jr. is still the unquestioned top prospect in the entire system, but there were some clear areas of improvement in his game. In past articles, I have expressed a desire to see the following two improvements: 1) Better zone-contact and 2) More aggression in the zone. While the sample is still too small to tell if there is marked improvement with his zone contact, I saw some really encouraging early signs regarding the latter.

The biggest reason I felt for Lombard’s average slash line and inflated K% in AA last season is because he would take too many good pitches. While I have no issues with having a patient approach and not expanding, Lombard Jr. would too often let himself get into bad counts by not hacking at hittable pitches. What I saw in his first two games was some effort to remediate that.

In the very small sample, he was swinging nearly 8% more than last season in AA. While this was a nice increase, it was what he was swinging at that had me pleased. Lombard Jr. continued to prove he has an advanced eye by spitting on some pitches just outside the zone. While he did take some strikes, the ones I saw were just about on the edge of the zone and not good pitches to swing at. His swings were on pitches truly in the zone rather than on the edges of it, and he took advantage. Just about all of his hits were hard contact, including his double and home run. For a player who has shown himself to be a strong defender, the big question was the hit tool. From just two games, I like what I saw and will stay attentive to what he does next.

Ben Hess, RHP

Line: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, 3.60 ERA, 4.81 FIP

While much of the attention this spring was about Elmer Rodriguez and Carlos Lagrange, Hess is another top pitching prospect who could conceivably make the big-league roster. With that in mind, I went and watched Hess’ Friday night outing. I came away very impressed, although noting a few things that Hess will need to take that next step.

Hess is a big pitcher, sort of reminiscent of Lance Lynn from a frame perspective. He comes from a lower slot, using a 30 degree arm angle delivery. While the pitch doesn’t have outstanding velocity, sitting 93-95, it is a reliable pitch for the right hander. Hess is able to command it fairly well, generating plenty of whiffs at the top and bottom of the zone. Right now it looks like an above-average offering that can flash plus.

His primary secondary pitch is the curveball, and it is a major weapon. The looping breaking pitch was a problem all night for hitters, especially lefties. While there were too many that get away from him for easy takes, when he is putting it at the bottom of or below the zone, there aren’t many bats that touch it. His primary breaking pitch to righties is his sweeping slider. This pitch isn’t nearly as polished as the curveball, generally sweeping too far off the plate. Hess does also have a true gyro slider that he appeared to use a couple times that looked nice and tight. This pitch looked better than his sweeper to me, so I think I’d like to see it become his main secondary used vs righties.

Hess does also have a changeup that lags behind his curve vs lefties and is apparently working on a cutter. I believe I saw him flash a couple of each, but they were lagging behind the other offerings. My main takeaway with Hess is he works incredibly well north and south. The fastball and curveball are both appearing to be plus pitches and MLB caliber weapons. The refinement of the east/west stuff will be imperative for Hess in his growth as a starting pitcher.

Yovanny Cruz, RHP

Line: 2.1 IP, 0 H 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 0.00 ERA, 2.63 FIP

One of the darlings of spring training was Yovanny Cruz. The minor league free agent was scooped up after being released by the Red Sox, with his inability to throw strikes a big holdup in his game. With so much buzz during the spring, I made sure to check out the 26-year-old reliever this week.

Cruz is an intimidating figure on the mound. Coming in at 6’6”, his frame is completely maximized. Cruz is most well known for his 100mph fastball. While the shear velocity is enough to make any hitter unbalanced, it isn’t necessarily the best fastball. Partly due to his poor extension and his low release angle, Cruz does not get the best inverted break on the pitch. While it is still incredibly tough to square up, it isn’t a pitch that is hard to get the bat on to at least foul off. This was very evident in the outing I watched from Friday, where he only recorded 1 swing and miss on the pitch. While better on Sunday, most of the swings and misses came on chases outside the zone. Still, the pitch is a plus weapon because of his elite velocity.

The real weapon is the slider. The breaking ball, which averages 88.4 mph on the young season, plays up because of hitters having to prep for the heater. When thrown properly, this pitch is a dart to the bottom left corner of the plate, inducing plenty of awkward looking chases. He was also able to buckle some batter’s knees by starting the pitch at them before having it break into the middle of the zone. Of the 27 sliders he has thrown on the season, he has registered an insane 70% whiff rate. This pitch is the secret sauce for Cruz’s success and will continue to be so if he were to make his MLB debut. Cruz has also thrown a splitter, but it has featured as a distant third.

The big elephant in the room will be the control. It was a big part of why he is now on his 4^th organization, and I don’t believe 4.1 innings is enough of a sample to determine if it is fixed. That said, there are reasons for encouragement. With the fastball, Cruz was mostly sitting in the zone with it. When he missed, he was able to induce chases out of the zone, especially when he threw it above the zone. Throwing the fastball for strikes will be the key, as his slider control was very iffy. There were more than a few sliders that did not come out of his hand properly, fading to the inside and off the plate. He also hit consecutive batters in the Friday game, one on the slider and the other on the fastball. Besides this, I came away very impressed. If he is able to continue with the fastball for strikes, despite it lacking great swing and miss stuff, he will be on the Yankees sooner rather than later, especially with some of the bullpen questions they currently have.

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