New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez has announced his retirement. He'll hang up the pinstripes following Friday's home game against the Tampa Bay Rays. It's a sad ending to an otherwise tremendous Hall of Fame-caliber career. Rodriguez is hitting just .204 with nine homers, 29 RBI and a .252 on-base percentage on the season.
Rodriguez ends his Yankees career sixth on the team's all-time home run list, 10th in runs scored and 11 in RBI's. Unless he smacks four more homers between now and the conclusion of Friday's game, Rodriguez will just barely miss the 700-homer mark for his career.
The 14-time All-Star has earned three AL MVP awards, led the league in homers and runs scored five different times. He's tallied 30-plus homers 15 times, 40-plus homers eight times and 100-plus RBI a whopping 14 times.
Needless to say, the embattled infielder will go down as one of the most-productive hitters of his generation. Marred by PED use, it's highly unlikely Rodriguez will earn a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
With Rodriguez now hanging up his cleats, the Yankees will turn to youngsters to man the DH position for the remainder of the season.
23-year-old catcher Gary Sanchez has worked in that role recently. Though, he hasn't done much of anything since returning to the majors. The Dominican native is hitting .263 with zero homers and three RBI in 19 at-bats since being called up. He was hitting at .282 with 10 homers and 50 RBI in Triple-A at the time of the promotion.
New York, who moved several key pieces during the trade deadline, also has a ton of young players in the minors that could see extended action with the big league club at some point soon.
Acquired from the Cleveland Indians for Andrew Miller, outfielder Clint Frazier is now the Yankees' top prospect. Though, he's has zero in-game experience at the Triple-A level and likely won't be tasked with playing in the majors moving forward this season. The same can be said for shortstop Gleyber Torres (acquired from Chicago for Aroldis Chapman) and infielder Jorge Mateo.
The one player on the Yankees' top-five prospect list that might get the call is outfielder Aaron Judge, who the team selected in the first round of the 2013 MLB Draft. He's hitting to a .265 average with 16 homers and 65 RBI in Triple-A on the season.