NEW YORK — The Yankees traded former top prospect Estevan Florial to the Guardians on Dec. 26, acquiring right-hander Cody Morris for the 26-year-old outfielder.
Florial signed with the Yankees in 2015 and was rated their top prospect in 2019 by MLB.com before dropping to sixth in 2020, 10th in 2021 and 30th in 2022.
He made his big league debut in August 2020 and has played in just 48 major league games over four seasons, hitting .209 with one homer, 11 RBIs and six stolen bases.
Florial batted .230 with eight RBI and three steals in 19 games for the Yankees this year while hitting .284 with 28 homers, 79 RBI and 25 stolen bases in 101 games for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Morris, 27, made his big league debut in September 2022 and had a 6.75 ERA in six appearances with the Guardians this year, striking out nine and walking six in eight innings. He averaged 95.2 mph with his fastball in the majors, also throwing a cutter, curveball and changeup.
Morris was 2-1 with a 3.23 ERA in four starts and 17 relief appearances for Triple-A Columbus and Double-A Akron this year, striking out 56 and walking 27 in 39 innings.
New York appeared to have a glut of outfielders after acquiring Juan Soto and Trent Grisham from San Diego and Alex Verdugo from Boston. The Yankees traded right-handers Michael King, Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez and Drew Thorpe to the Padres in the Soto swap along with catcher Kyle Higashioka.
