Promotions for top prospects? 'I think it's possible,' Aaron Boone says

Yankees manager Aaron Boone speaks with managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman “a fair amount,” Boone said Sunday morning.

So the fact that the trio chatted in recent days ranks fairly low on the breaking-news scale.

But Boone, who mostly spoke in generalities when asked in various ways to characterize the tenor of those recent conversations, may have provided a tidbit of organizational insight when it came to one topic.

Specifically, the possibility that the Yankees might look at dipping into their minor-league system even before making Sept. 1 call-ups and promoting any of the prospects who have been tearing it up with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

“I think it’s possible,” Boone said before his club’s losing streak reached eight games with a 6-5 loss to the Red Sox. “We’ll probably talk about it some more today. I think anything’s on the table right now.”

The primary player of interest for fans at the moment is Everson Pereira, a 22-year-old outfielder whom rival scouts believe projects best as a rightfielder but see as capable at all three outfield spots. Pereira, one of the organization’s top-rated position prospects, entered Sunday with a .302/.370/.552 slash line and 18 homers in a combined 80 games with Scranton and Double-A Somerset.

Infielder Oswald Peraza and catcher Austin Wells, as well as one-time highly touted outfield prospect Estevan Florial, are among the group of players who also would be considered (Florial is not on the 40-man roster, so a promotion, though not an impossibility, is less likely).

“Obviously, we understand we’re in a tough spot and that it’s not going well,” Boone said of his latest conversation with Steinbrenner. “So we’re in the business of trying to fix it, what are the best moves moving forward for us to try and get us on track . . . Obviously, we’re all frustrated with the position we’re in, but you try to be a little bit measured in what are the best steps to not only put ourselves in a good position in the short term but the long term as well.”

Schmidt much better

Clarke Schmidt, mostly tremendous this season but coming off his worst start of the season in Atlanta  last Monday, when he allowed eight runs and nine hits in 2 1/3 innings, rebounded nicely Sunday.

The righthander allowed two runs, four hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings in taking a no-decision.

“Thought it went really well today,” said Schmidt, whose biggest mistake was a 2-and-2 curveball in the first that Rafael Devers swatted into the second deck in right for his 29th homer. “Felt like we had a really good game plan and I thought the execution was really, really good. Besides a few batters, for the most part, we were really getting to our locations . . . You have to give credit to Devers. He’s a special player.”

Don’t the Yankees know it. Since making his debut July 25, 2017, Devers has hit 23 homers in 96 games against the Yankees, the most of any player in that span (Randal Grichuk is next with 18).

Hello, Williamsport  

Major League Baseball announced Sunday that the Yankees will play the Tigers on Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, as part of the annual “MLB Little League Classic.” The Classic started in 2017, with the Pirates and Cardinals playing in the inaugural game.