The Yankees May Have Finally Figured Out Their Hitting Development Problem
The most promising take away about the Yankees organization this season is the absolute massive step forward that the hitting took across all minor league levels. The pitching in aggregate took a step back only from injuries but pitching dev has been a strength of the Yankees for almost this whole decade and they are still in elite minor/major league status in that regard.
But what's not being talked about enough is how drastic a step forward the hitting dev seems to have taken this season...and I'm not just talking top prospects. Let me go one-by-one talking about how many older guys are having stand out seasons in their careers due to tangible adjustments made this season.
I'm going to go through a thread highlighting a bunch of guys, both younger/older, that the Yankees' dev team improved this season.
Garrett Martin
Garrett Martin is one of my favorite prospects to talk about in the Yankees system and one of the more underrated/forgotten guys from this season. He's a 26 year old OF that can competently play all 3 positions with MASSIVE power from the right side of the plate.
Martin's been with the org since 2023 and is just now having, BY FAR, his best season of his minor league career and in my opinion should be on the table for a major league OF spot some time next season. He has split time between AA/AAA before landing on the IL earlier in the Summer after his promotion to AAA. In aggregate on the season:
2026: .907 OPS (24 HRs in 326 PAs)
2025: .681 OPS (14 HRs in 408 PAs)
2024: .748 OPS (12 HRs in 346 PAs)
2023: .617 OPS (0 HRs in 77 PAs)
What changed?
🔹Making more contact. Still finds himself in poor bat to ball skill territory in the high 20's low 30's of whiff%, but improved from the last two years of 35-37% Whiff rates and 18-19% SwStr%.
🔹He's striking out less and walking more
🔹Added more power to his swing, which has featured 115 EVs this Spring. Was said to be one of the stand outs, to the org, from this Spring.
Oh and he could play a competent CF/corner OF position and has 18 SBs this season across AA/AAA.
DJ Gladney
Gladney is a 25 year old outfielder in Somerset right now, drafted in 2019 by the White Sox and picked up by the org this season. He has struck out A LOT this season and perhaps he never becomes big league viable for this reason. However his play has absolutely warranted being put into this thread relative to where his production was before in his long minor league career before this. His 2026 OPS is, by FAR, the highest of his minor league career:
2026: .840 OPS (23 HRs in 442 PAs)
2025: .645 OPS (10 HRs in 405 PAs)
2024: .753 OPS (16 HRs in 386 PAs)
2022: .727 OPS (19 HRs in 518 PAs)
2021: .617 OPS (7 Hrs in 294 PAs)
2019: .737 OPS (8 Hrs in 220 PAs)
And what is he doing, despite striking out more, that is resulting in significantly better play in a higher level than in almost every other season listed here?
🔹Lifting a ton more balls in the air.
2026 GB%: 39.5%
2025 GB%: 52.2%
2024 GB%: 46.3%
2023 GB%: 44.9%
🔹Swinging the least of his career in the last 4 years
And this is another guy that has 19 SBs, which is a significant increase to his prior career high before. Gladney has massive power. He can hit balls 425ft+ to all parts of the field, as he's done all year this season. Still a lot of swing/miss but yet another career season of an older minor league player who joined the Yanks this season.
Josh Moylan
I was excited to talk about Moylan because I hadn't gotten the chance to before earlier in the week the way I wanted. Moylan is another dude with a lot of swing/miss and a lot of chase. He has a boat load of power from the left side, he's 24 and plays 1B, and often takes advantage of whatever is left over the middle of the zone. He's having a career season after being signed by the org as an UDFA in 2023. He has split time between High-A and AA evenly, with FAR fewer K's in AA than High-A.
2026: .779 OPS (25 HRs in 429 PAs)
2025: .691 OPS (7 HRs in 452 PAs)
2024: .738 OPS (8 HRs in 406 PAs)
2023: .679 OPS (2 HRs in 101 PAs)
And how is he doing this?
🔹Far more aggressive swinging despite worse SwStr% and Whiff% results than all other seasons
🔹Getting the balls off the ground and pulling mistakes in the air! Prior seasons we saw Josh have GB rates in the mid 40's to mid 50's. Now he sits at a 35-38.1% GB rate.
🔹SLG has gone up up up. Aggregate SLG this season is at .483 compared to his .348 in 2025 and .381 in 2024.
But the main reason I wanted to talk about Moylan wasn't even because of his year this season, but because of how much he's gotten better as the competition has gotten harder and as the season's gone on. He has now split his season almost evenly into two: 213 PAs in High-A and 216 PAs in AA.
In High-A
43.7 K% - 7.5 BB%
In AA
29.6 K% - 8.3 BB%
And his K%, zone contact rates, Whiff%, and SwStr% ALL collectively have gotten better and better as the season has gone on, reaching season highs as of late.
Tyler Hardman
Tyler Hardman is 27 years old. He was has been trapped in AA for 3-4 seasons before his recent surge this season. There was a wrist injury that greatly stunted with Hardman's development over recent years, but he has ultimately failed to take advantage of his opportunities in AA through the past few years, except for this one. In 167 AA PAs before his promotion to AAA, where has has now accrued 307 PAs, he slashed .300/.371/.613 (.984 OPS) with 13 HRs. Here is how his aggregate season totals looked over the years:
2026: .823 OPS (25 HRs in 474 PAs)
2025: .752 OPS (20 HRs in 453 PAs)
2024: .574 OPS (10 HRs in 399 PAs) injury
2023: .890 OPS (26 HRs in 331 PAs)
2022: .784 OPS (22 HRs in 463 PAs)
2021: .732 OPS (.4 HRs in 122 PAs)
How is he doing this?
🔹Career lows in K% with still the same healthy amount of BBs.
2026: 23.6 K% - 9.9 BB%
2025: 31.6 K% - 8.4 BB%
2024: 38.8 K% - 9.8 BB%
2023: 33.2 K% - 12.1 BB%
2022: 30.7 K% - 8.6 BB%
2021: 36.9 K% - 8.2 BB%
🔹Career lows in Whiff%. Still a high 30.7% but much lower than the 33%, 39%-41%, 40%, 40%, and 42% rates he logged every year from 2025 to 2021, respectively.
Hardman is currently in AAA where he is still adjusting, rotating between 1B and 3B. He hits the ball really hard but has thus far struggled to get balls in the air like he's always been comfortable doing.
Marco Luciano
It's going to surprise people to hear that Luciano's (who was a former highly touted prospect) minor league career with the Yankees has practically trumped all others in his minor league career so far and it really hasn't even been close.
2026: .938 OPS (24 HRs in 422 PAs)
2025: .748 OPS (23 HRs in 555 PAs)
2024: .760 OPS (10 HRs in 384 PAs)
2023: .776 OPS (15 HRs in 320 PAs)
2022: .817 OPS (11 HRs in 257 PAs)
2021: .815 OPS (19 HRs in 453 PAs)
2019: .981 OPS (10 HRs in 216 PAs)* rookie ball
He has split time between AA (1.123 OPS in 117 PAs) and AAA (.866 OPS in 305 PAs) this season as a 24 year old, playing mostly 3B. His MLB debut years ago didn't go as the Giants had hoped and the Yankees took a flyer trying to rebuild his profile, so far showing a lot of promise that has kept on increasing through the year.
So how did he do this?
🔹Striking out less than most seasons before.
2026: 25.6 K% - 11.6 BB%
2025: 30.6 K% - 15.3 BB%
2024: 26.8 K% - 16.9 BB%
2023: 31.3 K% - 14.4 BB%
2022: 22.6 K% - 10.1 BB%
2021: 26.9 K% - 10.6 BB%
His K-rates in AAA (which I will discuss in depth soon below) have been better than they were in AA. 24.9 K% in AAA compared to 27.4 K% in AA.
🔹He's been a more aggressive swinger
Swing% by season
2026: 46.3% in AAA/48.0% in AA
2025: 41.6%
2024: 40.7%
2023: 43.4% in AAA / 43.1% in AA
2022: 48.3%
2021: 50.8% in High-A / 43.8% in Low-A
🔹Picked up the amount of contact he's made overall and in zone
Whiff% by season
2026: 29.3% in AAA / 30.2% in AA
2025: 36.9% in AAA
2024: 31.1% in AAA
2023: 39.4% in AAA / 33.2% in AA
2022: 28.5%
2021: 34.2% in High-A / 27.9% in Low-A
Z-Contact% by season (tracked)
2026: 79.0%
2025: 74.6%
2024: 78.1%
2023: 65.6%
🔹He's getting the ball in the air and pulling it in the air
Trend wise this season, he's K'ing more than he was compared to when he was first promoted to AAA but it's come with 1. more contact in zone, 2. a lot less swing/miss, and 3. A TON more damage in the air via Barrel rate.
While he's been well balanced against both LHP and RHP, his approach has mostly taken off vs LHP, in which case it's easy to see him begin the year in 2027 taking Rosario's role on the team.
Coby Morales
Coby Morales was an 18th round pick in 2023 by the Yankees who up until this year was having an otherwise unremarkable minor league career. But not this year. Through 497 PAs in AA:
2026: .858 OPS (20 HRs in 494 PAs)
2025: .673 OPS (7 HRs in 478 PAs)
2024: .684 OPS (4 HRs in 442 PAs)
2023: .945 OPS (1 HR in 49 PAs)
And how has he done it?
🔹Less K's and more BB's!
2026: 24.1 K% - 13.1 BB%
2025: 25.7 K% - 9.0 BB% (between High-A/AA)
2024: 29.2 K% - 13.1 BB%
2023: 30.6 K% - 16.3 BB%
🔹Hitting the ball harder this year and doing more damage. He's slugging .486 this year in AA and has never once before slugged above .385 outside of his 49 PAs in 2023 in Low-A. His SLG has consitently sat in the .300s through every level. He's able to drive balls out to all parts of the field, frequently using left-center field to leave the yard as a LHB.
Manuel Palencia
Manny Palencia is a 23 year old catcher UDFA from 2019. While his season numbers this season are not going to be the point of emphasis in this example, they certainly are still an improvement over what they were in prior years at a higher level of play.
2026: .711 OPS (7 HRs in 284 PAs)
2025: .669 OPS (1 HR in 264 PAs)
2024: .658 OPS (0 HRs in 102 PAs)
2023: .673 OPS (0 HRs in 117 PAs)
2022: .803 OPS (0 HRs in 151 PAs)*rookie ball
2021: .745 OPS (0 HRs in 131 PAs) *rookie ball
The increase in aggregate production this year is almost entirely from his SLG. He's got 7 HRs compared to the 1 HR he recorded cumulatively in his career before this. And the crazy part, that I wanted to highlight?
ALL 7 of these HRs came in August 2026. He has surpassed and septuppled his career HR total in 71 PAs through a single month.
In August 2026 he's slashing: .333/.366/.712 (1.078 OPS) with 4 BB - 6 K in 71 PAs.
In July 2026 he was slashing: .375/.400/.438 (.838 OPS) with 13 K - 2 BB in 50 PAs.
The professional months before this?
He has struggled consistently month after month in pro-ball outside of July-August this season. Is it a coincidence he randomly hit 7 HRs in one month, only logging 1 career total in all month-years before that?
Palencia already has very promising bat-to-ball skills and doesn't strikeout much; he's got a very similar plate disc./bat-to-ball balance compared to Luis Garcia Jr.
Cole Garbielson
Cole Gabrielson was a 2023 UDFA. He's a 26 years old OF with time split across all levels this season, mostly and currently in AA. Cole was preemptively called up to AAA in spite of inuries (I believe), until he was quickly sent back down to AA when the injured returned. Here is how his career snapshot looks:
2026: .788 OPS (6 HRs in 248 PAs)
2025: .620 OPS (6 HRs in 272 PAs)
2024: .642 OPS (0 HRs in 285 PAs)
2023: .740 OPS (3 HRs in 115 PAs)
He holds an .840 OPS in AA this season through 109 PAs, held a .766 OPS in High-A through 100 PAs, and held a .692 OPS in AAA through 39 PAs.
So how is he doing this?
🔹Far fewer K's
2026 AA: 23.9 K% - 11.9 BB%
2026 High-A: 15.0 K% - 19.0 BB%
2025: 35.3 K% - 13.6 BB%
2024: 24.9 K% - 13.0 BB%
2023: 30.4 K% - 6.1 BB%
🔹Whiffs have gone down
26.4 Whiff% in AA compared to
2025: 34.2 Whiff%
2024: 29.3% Whiff High A / 36.0% Whiff AA
2023: 31.9% Whiff High-A / 30.0% Whiff Low-A
🔹More aggressive swinging
Luis Durango
Many are familiar with Luis Durango already so I do not need to lay out who he is in as much nuance as the last guys. He was claimed from Cleveland last season, is 23 years old, and only 5'10 135 pounds as an OF. He has been through 3 levels of baseball this season.
Low-A: .727 OPS in 106 PAs
High-A: .840 OPS in 107 PAs
AA: .875 OPS in 56 PAs
2026: .802 OPS
2025: .576 OPS
2024: .655 OPS
2023: .809 OPS (.656 in non-rookie ball play)
2022: .546 OPS
How is he doing this?
🔹He's striking out A LOT less
2026: 11.2 K% - 6.7 BB%
2025: 20.8 K% - 7.7 BB%
2024: 19.6 K% - 5.9 BB%
2023: 17.7 K% - 11.4 BB%
2022: 14.6 K% - 12.3 BB%
🔹His Whiff rate is MUCH improved
2026: 11.8% in AA / 13.5% in High-A / 12.2% in Low-A
2025: 23.7%
2024: 25.2%
2023: 19.6%
2022: 18.8%
🔹He's using his speed on ground balls
2026 GB%: 66+% through all levels
2025: 60.5%
2024: 52.9%
2023: 59.1%
2022: 63.5%
Roderick Arias
Another case of people already knowing the name on the screen, there is not much depth I need to dive into here with regards to who Roderick is. He's a 21 year old infielder (3B/SS/2B), former top 2021 IFA target from the Yanks who has finally been breaking out. e
He has split time between High-A and AA, succeeding in each level with a .798 OPS in High-A that got significantly better over time and an .821 OPS in AA.
2026: .803 OPS (16 HRs in 499 PAs)
2025: .640 OPS (7 HRs in 465 PAs)
2024: .728 OPS (13 HRs in 552 PAs)
2023: .928 OPS (6 HRs in 130 PAs) *rookie ball
2022: .749 OPS (3 HRs in 140 PAs) *rookie ball
How he did he do this?
🔹Has kept balls off the ground through most of his 2026 season
2026 AA GB%: 31.0% 2026 High-A GB%: 44.8%
2025: 45.2%
2024: 43.1%
2023: 43.5%
2022: 45.6%
His PullAir% (which is recorded thanks to TJStats) is the highest in three years in AA this season, at 24.1% so far. His 2026 17.8% Pull Air was also higher than his other two seasons before this.
🔹Taking on a more aggressive approach, swinging hard and through many mistake pitches in zone for damage.
This has come with more swing/miss and more chase, but it's an approach that has worked for him so far and an approach that has allowed him to slug significantly more on the mistake pitches he gets in his ABs. I'm skeptical of the profile but without a doubt, the talent is there and the improvements are very hard to ignore.
Wilson Rodriguez
Wilson is a 2023 17th round pick OF prospect, only 21 years old. Wilson, in my opinion, is a lock within the top 20-25 in the NYY top 30. He got injured down the stretch this season, sidelining him throughout al ot of the summer. But before doing so he absolutely balled out in high-A in his first full season professional year.
2026: .806 OPS (8 HRs in 364 PAs)
2025: .733 OPS (4 HRs in 210 PAs) *mostly rookie ball
2024: .452 OPS (0 HRs in 40 PAs) *rookie ball
2023: .799 OPS (2 HRs in 50 PAs) *rookie ball
Wilson is a very well rounded, athletic player. He brings a patient approach with low chase, low K's, high BB's, high speed (20 SBs in 84 games this year), and a growing power tool that was starting to get tapped into more just before he was injured.
How is he doing this?
🔹Swinging the bat with more intention and producing more SLG!
In fact this is where his improvements this season can be seen:
2026 SLG: .427
2025: .384
2024: .152
2023: .439
6 of his 8 HRs came from June-July 19th (last day he got hurt). He sacrificed some bat-to-ball for SLG and it payed off well this year.
🔹Taking more BB's
2026: 19.8 K% - 15.9 BB%
2025: 17.6 K% - 11.9 BB%
2024: 37.5 K% - 17.5 BB%
2023: 26.0 K% - 16.0 BB%
Every Prospect. Every Level. Every Day.
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