 Welcome back to spring breakout Yankees and Blue Jays as we reach the top of the third Justin Shackle joined by Yankees VP of player development Kevin Reese Kevin good to see you You put the pants on you put the pinstripes on you're out in the field with the coaches good to see in such a really cool Atmosphere really cool event. Yeah, it's a great vibe You know a good good opportunity for the guys to get out there and in front of a national TV audience and Trying to have some fun out there now Because this is so new people are kind of learning on the go with this event How'd you put the lineup together? It was a combination of MLB using their their prospect list and some of our input as well You know and then just talking with all the coaches and kind of going through wanting to reward some guys for working hard And spring training and coming in you know in shape and ready to go and just letting them showcase their skills How close attention do you pay to major league baseball's prospect rankings when deciding who to put on this roster? I mean I think that we always you know pay some attention to the different publications and you know The prospects that they have ranked in different areas and and that's something that we wanted to you know Highlight the players that the fans are following And most of them are the ones that we really like as well. So it makes it a little bit easier All right, let's get to Spencer Jones here Yankee fans saw him hit that 470-foot shot in spring training game with the big league club They see him do what he does here big to run shot You see you hear about his day-to-day progress on the regular What does he need to do to further his chances of getting to the majors in short order? I mean I think it's just continuing to be consistent in his work pre-game You know and the things he's doing in between games and then having quality at bats like the guys got all the talent in the World and I think it's pretty cool that he got to show that you know by letting it fly on that one earlier here in The game and and you know just being consistent playing good defense making good decisions on the bases and and hitting well Where's he progressed the most over the last calendar year? Defensively, I think you know there was some debate whether he's he's a right fielder I think there's there's no debate that we think he can play center field now He's he's much faster than you think just watching you know seeing a guy of his size In person he moves really well, and I think he can be a quality defensive center fielder What led to the decision to have Brock Selvidge take this start in this game? He's a guy that's been grinding it out for a couple years here. He's a really good competitor I think that there was a lot of guys that that wanted to pitch in this game and And you know Sam Breen our director of pitching you know has it has a lot of influence over that And he was kind of a no-brainer for him to start Brock now something that jumped out at me when we saw the lineups posted You have Roderick Arias in shortstop you have George Lombard at second base They're both natural short stops and yet they're on the field together this afternoon What went into that decision? Well, we wanted to get the best players out there and the players that some of the fans Were excited to see he's both of those guys are capable of playing shortstop You know we we move vivas to third in order to play George at second I think well you might see some positional changes as the game goes on but you know it's exciting and a good problem to have when you have a lot of guys that can play a Top quality position with these big-name prospects position versatility. How much will that be? Looked upon and really weighed as you decide who goes where to the affiliates this season As they go to the affiliates, I think we'll continue to focus on their primary positions and you know trying to get the guys at the right levels, you know Versatility is something that that our manager really enjoys. It's something that Travis Chapman really looks for And so it's something that we we focus on getting guys exposed to different positions as they move through the level So that when they get to New York, it's not the first time that they're playing out of position George Lombard jr. 18 years old. We've seen him in Great Fruit League play this year and he's excelled But for a kid who was in high school just a year ago playing in Great Fruit League games What told the organization that he was ready for that at such an early stage in his pro career? Well, I think one of the things that we always consider when we send people over here for major league spring training It's just their maturity level and there was no question with George that he was going to be able to handle I mean this guy grew up in a big league club house and and I mean he's he's a gentleman He's a hard worker. There was no question about how he was going to handle himself in front of this group And then obviously the skill comes into play as well and there's no question on that side either You have Clayton beaters not on this roster if will Warren as well who is on this roster? But he's not going to be pitching today because he's pitching tomorrow along with Clayton and Fort Myers That's a that's a good slate. I guess for a minor league prospect in this situation, right? Yeah I mean these guys are competing, you know trying to make an impact on the major league roster at some point this year And we didn't want to get in the way of that with this game It was cool We had Aaron Boone was in the dugout early in the game and you know showing some love to the guys So there's there's eyes everywhere, but you know Clayton and will Warren are both focused on you know trying to put themselves in a Good position to make an impact this year. What should people be on the lookout for with Chase Hampton in 2024? Another guy that's a great competitor. I mean he's he's moved very quickly through the organization you know, he's got great stuff and You know, I think just like all these guys that we're talking about you want guys to progress and continue to to step their game up You know, maybe whether it's mixing in more off-speed pitches early and counts whether it's you know handling both batter hands You know just continued progress now We're talking about the names that a lot of fans know But there has been a lot of talk in Florida and around the game for people who pay attention close to the minor leagues about One of the lowest levels of the Yankees affiliates in the Florida complex league last year You have seven players from that complex league on this team today including Roderick Arias They talk about just the overall polish in the poise that these players progressed had Collectively and you have Arias Do you think he could be a player who maybe moves quicker than some of the other younger prospects? It's always hard to tell. I mean this guy's super talented and you know big props to our International scouting department that did a good job identifying some talent. You know that there was filling up that that Gulf Coast League roster What we'll see how how everybody progresses, you know There's a lot of factors that go into where players are playing and how quickly they move but but Roderick's in a good position One player I want to talk to you about as well is Everson Pereira because he came up last year got a taste of the majors and He's kind of flown under the radar in big league camp this year What can that little taste of big league play do for him? Is he presumably goes back to AAA? I mean, I think it was it was a tough taste, you know I mean he was probably up there before anyone here was comfortable with it due to some injuries and things that we had with the Major League team, but I but I do think it certainly served well to just show him Hey, what it's like in the big leagues what the quality of the pitching is on a day-in day-out basis And you know, hopefully that just helps him focus on his work that he needs to do to have success the next time He's called on. We just saw an ABS replay call there. What do you think of the new technology? I love it. I mean, I think it holds the umpires accountable a little bit It takes away some ability to make excuses for players at times and and at the end of the day I think the fans and all of us just want the right calls to happen So it keeps the game interesting as far as you know the umpire involvement and and it gives a little bit more Accountability to some questionable calls at times. All right, Kevin. We appreciate your time giving us all this great insight But hey get back to the dugout I know this is a special treat for you too as well because you don't get to spend too much time in there That's true. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it