The New York Yankees didn’t make an easy call when they sent Carlos Lagrange down to Triple-A, and that was very obvious at the time.
Speaking after sending him to the minors, skipper Aaron Boone even said that he made it a tough decision.
“He made it a difficult decision,” Boone said, per MLB.com.
“Coming into this, I wouldn’t have even thought there was a decision. He’s definitely got everyone’s attention. I love where he’s at. I would not be surprised if he is impacting us early, middle, later part of the season. “I can just tell you, we’re all very excited about his continued development and what we think he could mean to our team at some point.”
Now, it didn’t take long for him to start turning heads already, as Lagrange’s fastball was on full display during opening weekend in Triple-A.
During Triple-A Opening Weekend, Lagrange recorded the fastest pitch at 101.3 MPH. Velocity doesn’t automatically make someone a big leaguer, but throwing 100-plus MPH with good stuff typically gets guys to the show at some point.
“Fastest pitch during Triple-A opening weekend? Yankees' Lagrange at 101.3! … One of the Yankees' toughest decisions this spring was to send down Carlos Lagrange, their top pitching prospect. The 6-foot-7, 248-pound flame-thrower turned heads with a performance that exceeded lofty expectations in his first big league camp.
“The 22-year-old lit up radar guns across his five Grapefruit League appearances, consistently flashing triple digits while accounting for the two fastest pitches recorded at Spring Training -- 103.1 mph and 102.8 mph -- during a hitless outing on March 11 against the Blue Jays.”
It’s not just that Lagrange just throws hard, as a lot of pitchers can get up to 100 MPH when feeling as good as they can. However, what separates him right now is how often he’s in that range, and how easy it looks when he does it.
The Yankees are going to need elite arms at some point over the course of a full season. That’s just how it goes. When that moment comes, it’s impossible to say that he shouldn’t get a chance to show what he has.