{"id":641147,"date":"2026-03-24T18:50:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/641147\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T18:50:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:50:24","slug":"cade-winquest-yankees-rare-rule-5-pick-cracks-opening-day-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/641147\/","title":{"rendered":"Cade Winquest, Yankees\u2019 rare Rule 5 pick, cracks Opening Day roster"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shortly after the Yankees made Cade Winquest their first Rule 5 Draft pick in 14 years<\/a> in December, the former Cardinal connected with his new pitching coach for lunch.<\/p>\n

It was at The Smith in Midtown that Winquest, already in New York City visiting his girlfriend, first met Matt Blake in person. There, the two discussed a few tweaks the former starter could make as he prepared to battle for a spot in the Bombers\u2019 bullpen, including the implementation of a sinker.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere his arm slot is and how he spins the ball, we felt like there was opportunity to add that pitch to help control the right-handed hitters a little bit more and minimize some of the contact quality against him,\u201d Blake said earlier this spring.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Winquest found out that his new pitch, as well as the reimplementation of his cutter, helped him earn a spot on the Yankees\u2019 Opening Day roster despite him having a 7.20 ERA over 10 innings this spring. A source confirmed the decision to the Daily News as the Yankees wrapped up their exhibition season in Arizona.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel like he\u2019s gonna be a good pitcher,\u201d\u00a0Aaron Boone said of Winquest over the weekend<\/a>. \u201cI think he\u2019s shown enough to keep himself in that mix for us and to warrant us taking him. We\u2019ll see in the end which way we go. But he\u2019s taken to some of the minor adjustments I know the pitching group has had for him. That\u2019s always a work in progress, but I think he\u2019s got a chance to be good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Yankees have had their eyes on Winquest, who has not pitched above Double-A, since his amateur draft year in 2022. Also working in his favor was the team\u2019s desire for depth preservation.<\/p>\n

As a selection in the major league phase of the Rule 5 Draft, the 25-year-old must remain on the Yankees\u2019 26-man roster all season or be placed on waivers. If he clears waivers, he must then be offered back to St. Louis for $50,000. The Yankees can only send Winquest to the minors if the Cardinals don\u2019t take him back.<\/p>\n

With the Yankees opting for a four-man rotation to open the season<\/a> \u2014 Boone told reporters in Arizona that Luis Gil will start the season in the minors, per MLB.com\u2019s Bryan Hoch<\/a> \u2014 they can give Winquest an extended look in a bullpen that is short on sure things. If Winquest, who also has a fastball that can hit 100 mph and a whiff-inducing curveball, can capitalize on that opportunity, he could become the first Rule 5 pick to stick with the Yankees since utilityman Billy Parker \u2014 the last Negro Leaguer to play in Major League Baseball \u2014 did so in 1973.<\/p>\n

For now, Winquest can set his sights on his major league debut. It\u2019s unclear when exactly that will happen, but his parents, Brian and Stephanie, will be in San Francisco for the Yankees\u2019 season-opening series against the Giants.<\/p>\n

Winquest wasn\u2019t the only reliever fighting for a spot in the Yankees\u2019 bullpen, as Boone said that Jake Bird and Brent Headrick also made the Opening Day roster with Gil being optioned.<\/p>\n

Bird was acquired from the Rockies last summer but quickly demoted to Triple-A after a nightmarish introduction with the Yankees<\/a>. Headrick, meanwhile, had a hard time maintaining his velocity last year<\/a> as he transitioned from being a starter and dealt with some injuries.<\/p>\n

With the Yankees deciding on their last few pitching staff decisions, here\u2019s how their 26-man Opening Day roster will look, barring any last-minute moves.<\/p>\n

Starters (4): LHP Max Fried, RHP Cam Schlittler, RHP Will Warren, LHP Ryan Weathers<\/p>\n

Bullpen (9): LHP Ryan Yarbrough, RHP Paul Blackburn, RHP David Bednar, RHP Camilo Doval, RHP Fernando Cruz, LHP Tim Hill, LHP Brent Headrick, RHP Cade Winquest, RHP Jake Bird<\/p>\n

Catchers (2): Austin Wells, J.C. Escarra<\/p>\n

Infielders (6): 1B Ben Rice, 2B Jazz Chisholm Jr., SS Jos\u00e9 Caballero, 3B Ryan McMahon, 1B Paul Goldschmidt, UTL Amed Rosario<\/p>\n

Outfielders (4): LF Cody Bellinger, CF Trent Grisham, RF Aaron Judge, Randal Grichuk<\/p>\n

Designated Hitter (1): Giancarlo Stanton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shortly after the Yankees made Cade Winquest their first Rule 5 Draft pick in 14 years in December,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2376],"tags":[5,38164,4,1690,62,2548,2547,1406,142],"class_list":{"0":"post-641147","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-yankees","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cade-winquest","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-yankees","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkyankees","15":"tag-opening-day","16":"tag-yankees"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116285658056938929","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}