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DENVER, COLORADO – SEPTEMBER 18: Yanquiel Fernandez #35 of the Colorado Rockies circles the bases after hitting a solo home run against the Miami Marlins in the seventh inning at Coors Field on September 18, 2025 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
The New York Yankees have been active in many roster transactions over the past month, but they haven’t resulted in many big-time additions, aside from the Cody Bellinger signing. Just a week ago, the Yankees made a trade with the Colorado Rockies for Angel Chivilli and DFA Michael Siani in the process. Siani has since been claimed by the Dodgers, but the point is, there’s been a lot of small moves made by Brian Cashman and the rest of the front office.
On Wednesday, the Yankees claimed Rockies outfielder Yanquiel Fernandez, according to Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.
The Yankees X account officially announced that they were also DFA RHP Dom Hamel in the corresponding move to make room on the 40-man roster a couple of hours after Romero’s report.
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Yankees Claim Yanquiel Fernandez
The Rockies designated Fernandez for assignment a week ago. He played in 52 games with the Rockies in 2025 and hit .225 with four home runs, five doubles, and eight walks.
New York claiming him means Fernandez might get some playing time in Spring Training, but it’s unlikely he would break camp with the MLB team.
He is still just 23 and has hit well in the minors. Before being called up in 2025, Yanquiel Fernandez hit .284 over 64 games in Triple-A with 13 home runs, 14 doubles, and an OPS of .849.
Fernandez was the 11th-ranked prospect in the Rockies system, and here is his prospect bio from MiLB.com:
DENVER, COLORADO – SEPTEMBER 18: Yanquiel Fernandez #35 of the Colorado Rockies circles the bases after hitting a solo home run against the Miami Marlins in the seventh inning at Coors Field on September 18, 2025 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
“Fernandez signed with the Rockies for $295,000 out of Cuba in July 2019 and made a very strong first impression in the Dominican Summer League in 2021 with a .937 OPS over 54 games. He started out a little slowly in his full-season debut a year later, but he figured things out and was one of the best hitters in the California League in the second half of the year, finishing as the league leader in RBIs (109), tied for third in homers (21) and fifth in slugging percentage (.507).”
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Yankees DFA Dom Hamel
Dom Hamel has been in and out of the DFA limbo this offseason.
He had a brief stint with the New York Mets last season in MLB. He pitched one inning, gave up three hits, no earned runs, and no strikeouts, but was sent down after.
He had also been on the Rangers and Orioles rosters throughout the offseason, and maybe one of those two teams will give him another shot.
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