Yankees add Durbin, Rodríguez to 40-man for Rule 5 protection

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The breakout star from the AFL could get his shot in the majors in 2025.

November 19th marked the deadline for teams to add players to the 40-man roster. Players who were 18 or younger at signing and have been with their clubs for five seasons or players who were 19 or older at signing and have been with their clubs for four years become Rule 5 Draft-eligible if their teams decline to add them to the 40-man roster. Therefore, an MLB club could protect certain prospects from the Rule 5 Draft by adding them to the 40-man roster ahead of tonight's 6pm ET deadline.

Several players in the minor leagues have become eligible for exposure to the Rule 5 Draft this winter, my colleague Smith Brickner providing a comprehensive breakdown of the notable names the Yankees would have to consider adding to the 40-man roster. Minutes before the Tuesday evening deadline, the Yankees announced that they had added second baseman Caleb Durbin and catcher Jesús Rodríguez to the 40-man roster while also receiving pitcher Carson Coleman back from the Rangers after they selected him in the 2023 Rule 5 Draft.

These additions bring the 40-man roster to 37 players, leaving room for three more additions this winter barring further subtractions.

Caleb Durbin

Durbin's addition to the 40-man roster was widely expected, and became a foregone conclusion following his stellar performances in the Arizona Fall League. Durbin made the AFL All-Star team and was named AFL Breakout Player of the Year after setting the single-season record with 29 stolen bases in just 24 games. He slashed .312/.427/.548 with five home runs and 21 RBIs and impressively walked (17 BBs) more than he struck out (six Ks).

Durbin has been the center of an impressive return for the Yankees, as he first joined the organization after a 2022 offseason trade that sent lefty reliever Lucas Luetge to the Braves. While lacking a tad in the power department, Durbin almost never whiffs and has remarkable plate coverage that confers elite in-zone contact rates. Smith provided a full analysis of the swing changes Durbin underwent after moving from the Braves organization to the Yankees, those adjustments improving his launch angles and game power.

Durbin's emergence comes at an ideal time for the Yankees, with second baseman and leadoff hitter Gleyber Torres expected to depart in free agency after the team declined to make a qualifying offer. Durbin profiles excellently as a future leadoff hitter given the speed and lack of strikeouts and would give the Yankees a cheap option at second base, freeing up payroll space in a critical free agency period in which they must re-sign Juan Soto.

Jesús Rodríguez

The Yankees' other addition was much more of a surprise, as Jesús Rodríguez gives them five catchers on the 40-man roster. Rodríguez played 79 games between High-A and Double-A, slashing .302/.375/.481 with 10 home runs and 47 RBIs. He is not generally viewed as a long-term catcher on account of poor blocking and framing skillsets and could move to a corner infield position sooner rather than later. Indeed, Rodríguez manned third base, left field, first base, and second base at various points this past season. He did not appear on many publications' top Yankees prospect lists and will turn 23 at the start of the 2025 season.

There was some speculation that the surplus created at the catcher position could allow the Yankees to deal from that depth this winter. Rodríguez joins Austin Wells, Jose Trevino, Carlos Narvaez, and J.C. Escarra on the 40-man. Trevino is entering his final season of arbitration eligibility and remains one of the elite defensive catchers in MLB. The Yankees could look to move the 2022 Platinum Glove winner to a catching-needy team, much in the same way that they included Kyle Higashioka in the Juan Soto trade as Higashioka also entered his final season of team control.

Carson Coleman

Right-handed pitcher Carson Coleman returns to the Yankees a year after the Rangers selected him in the 2023 Rule 5 Draft. Coleman has not pitched in two years because of Tommy John surgery, which is why the Rangers were able to keep him in the organization after they selected him in the Rule 5 Draft but then added him to the 60-day IL instead of the 26-man active roster. He endured setbacks in his rehab and never pitched for them, so he's returning to the Yankees' system (though not on their 40-man roster).

Notable Omissions

Zach Messinger

Several writers, including Smith, identified right-handed pitcher Zach Messinger as the Yankees' toughest decision ahead of the Rule 5 Draft, and they ultimately declined to add him to the 40-man roster. Placing at No. 17 on the Yankees' top prospect list per MLB Pipeline, Messinger made strides developing a nasty sweeper, but lack of progress on a low-90s fastball with mediocre shape made the 25-year-old expendable.

That being said, Messinger displayed impressive pitchability even without a great fastball, leading the Eastern League in average-against (.207) and WHIP (1.11) while ranking second in ERA (3.06) and striking out 136 in 150 innings. There's at least a solid-to-good chance that another tea—particularly a cellar-dweller looking for pitching—selects Messinger in the Rule 5 Draft, bumping him up from Double-A and stashing him in their bullpen.

T.J. Rumfield

A terrific defender and a name familiar to those with decent knowledge of the Yankees' system, Rumfield hit .292/.365/.461 with 26 doubles, 15 homers, and a 116 wRC+ in 114 games at Triple-A this past season. Since he's a first baseman and the Yanks were devoid of quality cold-corner options in 2024, Rumfield's name was often floated by fans as a possibility to step in for the slumbering and injured combination of Anthony Rizzo and DJ LeMahieu. It didn't happen, and he may be taken in the Rule 5 Draft.

Rumfield's primary issue is that he would be a bit redundant on the 40-man roster because the Yankees already have another lefty-hitting Triple-A first baseman, and they happen to like Ben Rice more. Remember, Rice had a 174 wRC+ in 30 games at Triple-A, so even though that's a smaller sample than Rumfield's, he was really laying waste to the level in comparison. Smith noted that the batted-ball metrics were a bit suspicious of Rumfield as well, and that if he does make the majors, he'd be a James Loney type at best. Perhaps the 25-year-old moves on to a different organization and gets his shot elsewhere.

Anthony Seigler

Once the Yankees' first-round selection in the 2018 MLB Draft, Anthony Seigler's stock plummeted almost from the moment he joined the organization. Billed on occasion as a switch-pitcher, switch-hitter, and catcher, Seigler never found success in any of those roles, and his struggles behind the plate led him to be used exclusively as a second baseman in 2024. He has failed to make a Yankees top prospect list for several years, and after slashing .234/.350/.398 with 12 home runs and 49 RBIs in 118 games at Double-A, he is not expected to be taken by another team in the Rule 5 Draft. So this wasn't a surprise.