Overview
- The Rule 5 selection requires a $100,000 payment and obligates the Yankees to keep Winquest on the 26-man roster in 2026 or offer him back to St. Louis for $50,000 if he clears waivers.
- Assistant GM Michael Fishman said the club has tracked Winquest since the 2022 draft and will bring him to camp to compete for a relief role given current bullpen openings.
- Winquest reached Double-A in 2025, has touched 100 mph, and paired that velocity with a curveball that generated a 46.2% whiff rate while posting a 3.99 ERA across High-A and Double-A.
- He has only eight Double-A outings on his resume, which makes sticking on an MLB roster challenging, but the Yankees view his length and stuff as workable in relief with tweaks.
- The Yankees had no losses in the major-league phase of the Rule 5 Draft, though they surrendered three players in the Triple-A phase and added two there.