New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: A lot of the big headlines to come out of Brian Cashman’s media availability on Thursday were around the status and recovery of Aaron Judge and his rib injury. Also during that availability, Cashman noted that the performances the Yankees have gotten from the catcher position this season have been an issue. While he emphasized that he’s looking to improve themselves in total as opposed to putting all the eggs in one position’s basket, he acknowledged that catcher has become
an unexpected area of concern.
The Trentonian | Greg Johnson: One annual event during the All-Star Game weekend festivities is the Futures Game played between some of the top prospects from around baseball. The Yankees were set to be represented in this year’s event by shortstop George Lombard Jr. and pitcher Carlos Lagrange. However, both have been ruled out with injury. In their place, the Yankees will now send pitcher Ben Grable, an 11th-round pick from Indiana last year who is now in the Somerset Patriots’ bullpen. He’s much lower in the Yankees’ prospect pecking order, but is having a nice 2026 season.
MLB.com | Byron Kerr: The Yankees’ offense had one of their best performances in a while on Thursday when they put up 12 runs in a win over the Rays. A couple Yankees gave a bit of credit to a pregame speech from Jazz Chisholm Jr. ahead of that game. Jazz then played a big role in last night’s win over the Nationals, so it’s been a nice couple days for him.
Netflix: Ben Rice’s competition in the 2026 Home Run Derby is set for Monday night. Barring any late substitutions, he will face Junior Caminero of the Rays, Jac Caglianone of the Royals, Jordan Walker of the Cardinals, Munetaka Murakami of the White Sox, Willson Contreras of the Red Sox, and two host sluggers: Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper of the Phillies. Caminero and Schwarber were runners-up in the 2025 and 2018 events, respectively, while Harper was the winner in 2018, the last time he competed in one with the Nationals. Rice will be looking to become the fifth Yankee to win the event, alongside Tino Martinez (1997), Jason Giambi (2002), Robinson Canó (2011), and Aaron Judge (2017).
MLB.com: Another event this weekend is the MLB Draft, which is set to begin later today. If you want to feel old, the sons of Andy Pettitte, CC Sabathia, Jose Contreras, and other famous names from around baseball will be among those available for selection in this year’s Draft. And if you’re curious about who the Yankees might take with their top pick (No. 35), check out Dan Kelly’s article for us yesterday.
