After choosing catcher prospect Josh Breaux in the second round of the 2018 MLB Draft, the Yankees had high hopes for him.
Due to his raw power and powerful throwing arm, Breaux was ranked as the Yankees’ No. 15 prospect by MLB Pipeline in 2019.
But Breaux steadily moved down the organization’s catcher depth chart over time, and the Yankees released him on Saturday as a result.
Breaux’s injuries and performance have fluctuated recently, and this season has been especially challenging. During his brief tenure at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he hit.143 (5-for-35) in just 11 games.
Despite spending a brief spring season as a non-roster invitee with the major league team, he was added to the Yankees Development List in May after playing with the RailRiders in April.
With players like Austin Wells, Ben Rice, and Agustin Ramirez developing, the Yankees’ upper levels of their farm system now have strength at the catcher position. As a result, Breaux’s exit has little effect on the squad.
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Jays Lose to Yankees 8-1
That was a return to form, then. Following a week of goals, the offense vanished once more. Plus, the pitching was awful. Although splitting with the Yankees is a respectable result, the journey there was incredibly depressing. They were behind early on and never really seemed like they could win the match after that.
The third and fourth innings featured a fair amount of action. Cole struck Vlad in the hand first. After apologizing and receiving Vlad’s acceptance, Gausman hit Judge in the next half inning.
Teams striking each other’s stars always leads to some friction, even though I don’t think either hitting hitter was done on purpose. The judge did well.
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Vlad appeared to be fine, but in the eighth, he was pinch-hit. Hopefully that was only a precaution in a game that was practically over and not an indication of an actual injury, as he was seen conversing with Bo on the bench without appearing overly concerned.
Kevin Gausman’s day at work wasn’t very good. First, New York led 2-0 thanks to a home run by Aaron Judge and a single by Juan Soto.
The Yankees added two more runs in the second inning on three walks and two singles, making the situation worse. Despite giving up a single, walk, and double in the fifth inning, which resulted in another run being scored, he managed to hold on and get through the third and fourth without spreading the hole any wider. Afterward, he was replaced by Genesis Cabrera.
With a double of his own, Trent Grisham, Cabrera’s first hitter, increased New York’s lead to 7-1. He finished with seven runs scored on seven hits, five walks, one hit batter, and seven strikeouts in 4.1 innings.
In the meantime, the Jays had little success against Cole. None of them made it home: Varsho was hit by a pitch in the second inning, Vlad reached on a single in the first, and Springer singled.
The third was their only point. Spencer Horwitz advanced on a fastball hit to Vlad, worked a walk, and scored on a Turner ground ball single.
But that was all there was to it. In the fourth and fifth, Cole sat them down sequentially. They were hit twice and struck out six times in five innings, managing a total of three hits and a walk.
In the sixth, Nate Pearson struck out three and gave up an eighth run on two doubles. In the seventh inning, Jose Cuas pitched a 1-2-3 inning.
Michael Tonkin, meanwhile, had retired five straight Jays before allowing Ernie Clement to reach base. Tim Hill took over and forced Kiermaier to ground out, eradicating the runner.
The eighth was pitched by Chad Green. After giving up a deep fly to center fielder Alex Verdugo and a line single to Aaron Judge, he nearly made things worse, but Kiermaier made the incredible leap to the wall and denied Verdugo at least extra bases and most likely a home run. In the second half, Hill recorded a 1-2-3 inning.
Without giving up a run, Bowden Francis took the ninth and worked around a single. For the Yankees, Josh Maciejewski closed it out.
