The New York Yankees designated right-hander Chase Hampton for assignment on Sept. 7, clearing a 40-man roster spot to activate Aaron Judge from the 60-day injured list, via the MLB transaction log.
The move ends — at least for now — the club’s hold on a pitcher who not long ago ranked among the organization’s most promising arms.
Hampton, 25, was selected in the sixth round of the 2022 draft out of Texas Tech and signed for an over-slot bonus. He wasted little time justifying that investment.
In his first full professional season in 2023, he climbed from High-A Hudson Valley to Double-A Somerset, posting a 3.63 ERA over 106 2/3 innings with swing-and-miss stuff that included a plus slider and a fastball that touched the upper 90s.
By midseason, he had jumped to No. 4 on MLB Pipeline’s Yankees list and was widely viewed as the club’s top pitching prospect, with some evaluators projecting a mid-rotation starter. Baseball Prospectus ranked him among the top 60 prospects in the game entering 2024.
Injuries then rewrote the trajectory. Limited work in 2024 gave way to Tommy John surgery in February 2025, wiping out the entire season. The Yankees still protected him from the Rule 5 draft that November, a sign they believed the stuff could return. It did not, at least not in 2026.
After a rehab climb through the lower minors, Hampton made 17 starts across three levels and finished 0-6 with an 8.18 ERA, 56 strikeouts, and a 1.78 WHIP in 55 innings.
At Somerset, the numbers were harsher: 0-5 with a 9.59 ERA, 2.13 WHIP, and 28 walks in 35 2/3 innings over 11 starts. Command, once a relative strength, never settled.
The DFA is a corresponding roster move, not a surprise given the results. Still, it lands as a reminder of how quickly prospect capital can evaporate.
Hampton remains young enough that another club may claim him off waivers as a reclamation project — the same profile that once made him a sixth-round steal. The Yankees now have a short window to trade him or expose him to the waiver wire.
For a franchise that has long treated its pitching pipeline as a core asset, losing a former top prospect without a major-league inning is a quiet but pointed outcome.
Judge’s return is the headline New York wanted. Hampton’s exit is the cost of making room.
