One Week to Go! Yankees Daily Trade Deadline Profile: Zack Littell

MLB’s non-waiver trade deadline is July 31st. As the New York Yankees appear to be in playoff contention, every day this month we will take a look at a player who could be involved in the Yankees’ deadline activity. These players will either be current Yankees who could be traded away or players from other organizations who New York could look to acquire for the playoff push.

We are now just one week away from the MLB trade deadline. Feels like just yesterday we debuted this daily series with our profile of Jorge Mateo. Since then, a few of the players we’ve profiled have been traded.

Blake Rutherford and Tito Polo were shipped to Chicago for a trio of White Sox players. Rob Refsnyder was just dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for a minor league first baseman. Instead of coming to the Bronx, Ryan Madson is now in our nation’s capital after being traded to the Washington Nationals.

Some of our profiled players that haven’t been traded are still rumored to be of interest for the Yankees. Sonny Gray, Yu Darvish, Yonder Alonso, and Lucas Duda are all still considered trade deadline targets for New York.

Now that you hopefully realize I knew what I was talking about the past 24 days, let’s start our final week of profiles with a Yankees prospect who could be on the move if Brian Cashman has any more deals up his sleeves.

SEATTLE, WA – JULY 23: Didi Gregorius (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images) /

SP Zack Littell, Trenton Thunder (AA), Sell

A look at Zack Littell‘s numbers this season would likely make Yankee fans want to hold onto the 21-year-old.

Between High-A and Double-A, Littell is 14-1 with a 1.94 ERA and a 105-23 strikeout to walk ratio in 111.1 innings.

Littell looks like a prospect who should be working his way toward the big league club.

The problem is that Littell is Rule 5 eligible this winter. The only way the Yankees can protect the young right-hander is putting him on their 40-man roster.

New York is going to have a difficult time fitting all of the players they like on their 40-man. As you can tell from this list of Rule 5 eligible Yankees, Brian Cashman is going to have some difficult decisions to make when choosing who to protect.

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A way to ease Cashman’s decision? Trade some of the Yankees’ Rule 5 eligible players at the deadline.

Zack Littell could be one of those players. As could Billy McKinney or Jake Cave.

Based on Littell’s numbers and the fact that he’s already pitching in Double-A, another team might think that he could pitch in the majors next season (Rule 5 picks must last the entire next season with the big league club).

If that’s the case, Littell could be selected in the Rule 5 Draft and New York would lose their number 18 prospect for nothing.

To avoid such a fate, Brian Cashman could move Zack Littell at the upcoming trade deadline. Littell could perhaps be used to acquire a major league starting pitcher.

The Yankees could very well see a future for Littell within their organization and eventually make room for him on their 40-man roster.

If not, Zack Littell could be on the move in the next week.

Next: Yankees Daily Trade Deadline Profile: Jake Cave

Considering I mentioned that we’ve already profiled many of the Yankees’ trade targets, tomorrow we’ll continue to profile Yankees prospects who could be used to bring those targets to the Bronx.

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