Yankees Announce 2024 Opening Day Roster

The day is finally here, the start of the 2024 Major League Baseball season, and with that let's take a look at some noteworthy additions, and subtractions from the roster after leaving Spring Training. Here we won't go too deep into player profiles, as you can go to my 2024 season preview here.

Catchers

• Jose Trevino

• Austin Wells

After the Yankees announced that they had traded away Ben Rortvedt yesterday, there was little doubt remaining around who would be on the roster. Trevino, a platinum-glove catcher is returning after missing most of 2023 with injury, while Austin Wells looks to perform in his first full season, after showing a promising 19 game debut season last year.

Infield

• Anthony Rizzo

• Gleyber Torres

• Anthony Volpe

• John Berti

• Oswaldo Cabrera

• Jahmai Jones

For the most part, everything here was expected coming into spring training, as Rizzo, Gleyber, and Volpe are expected to get most of the starts in the infield. However, with the injury of DJ Lemahieu, the Yankees decided to make an Opening Day Eve trade for veteran infielder John Berti from the Marlins. Berti, a 33 year old infielder, had a career year in 2023, hitting .294 with a .748 OPS. The biggest surprise on this list is the Yankees decision to start the season with Jahmai Jones, a 26 year old infielder who has only appeared in about 30 games in his 3 year career.

Outfield

• Aaron Judge

• Juan Soto

• Alex Verdugo

• Giancarlo Stanton

• Trent Grisham

No surprises here with Perenial All-Stars Aaron Judge and Juan Soto being on the roster, along with former MVP Giancarlo Stanton who will most likely be the DH for most of the games this year. Alex Verdugo and Trent Grisham are also not much of a surprise given Verdugo's hitting abilities, and the Gold-Glove defense of Trent Grisham.

Starting Pitchers

• Nestor Cortes

• Carlos Rodon

• Marcus Stroman

• Clarke Schmidt

• Luis Gil

The Yankees rotation this year seems to be very volatile as many guys are coming off injured seasons in 2023 that weren't all that great. That alongside the 2 month recovery Yankees' ace Gerrit Cole has in front of him, leaves a lot of room for error for the rest of the rotation.

Youngster Luis Gil, who had a breakout season in 2022 (6 games with a 3.07 ERA), earned the spot after Gerrit Cole's injury was announced, and hopes to make an impact.

Relievers

• Clay Holmes

• Jonathan Loaisiga

• Ian Hamilton

• Caleb Ferguson

• Luke Weaver

• Victor Gonzalez

• Nick Burdi

• Clayton Beeter

With the departure of key bullpen pieces Michael King, and Wandy Peralta, the Yankees bullpen looks a lot different in 2024, where outside of Holmes, Loaisiga, and Hamilton, not many guys have much high leverage experience. 25 year old Clayton Beeter could make a huge impact in 2024, pitching to a 3.62 ERA in the minors last season with 131.2 innings pitched.

Notable Injury-List

• Gerrit Cole

• DJ Lemahieu

• Tommy Kahnle

• Scott Effross

• Jasson Dominguez

Most notably, 2023 Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole, will miss aproximately two months of the season, after an elbow injury sustained in Spring Training. Cole's expected to return in late May or Early June, which cant come soon enough.

DJ Lemahieu has a foot injury that lands him on the IL to start the season, however he is expected to return soon.

Tommy Kahnle, and Scott Efross are two of those high leverage guys that the Yankees bullpen is currently missing. Having either one of them back would be a huge addition for the Yankees.