The New York Yankees activated right-hander Chase Hampton from the temporarily inactive list at Double-A Somerset on Thursday, according to the official MiLB transaction log.
Somerset had placed the 25-year-old on the TIL on Aug. 9. The team was scheduled to host Akron on the day of his return.
The move itself is routine. The story around Hampton is not.
Once one of the Yankees’ brightest pitching prospects, Hampton is trying to salvage a difficult first season back from Tommy John surgery. Drafted in the sixth round in 2022 out of Texas Tech and signed for an over-slot $497,500 bonus, he vaulted onto top-100 lists after a strong 2023 debut.
That year he posted a 3.63 ERA with 145 strikeouts in 106 2/3 innings across High-A Hudson Valley and Double-A Somerset. His fastball sat 92-94 mph and touched higher, pairing with a plus slider. The Yankees added him to the 40-man roster in November 2025 to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
Injuries interrupted the rise. A flexor strain and groin issues limited him to 18 2/3 innings in 2024 (2.41 ERA). In February 2025 he underwent Tommy John surgery and missed the entire season.
He began a rehab assignment in May 2026 at Single-A Tampa, moved to High-A Hudson Valley, and was activated at Somerset on June 12.
The results at Double-A have been poor. In nine starts with Somerset, Hampton went 0-5 with a 9.93 ERA over 29 innings. He allowed 39 hits, 32 earned runs, 25 walks and seven home runs while striking out 28. His WHIP sat at 2.21.
Across all of 2026, he has gone 0-6 with an 8.19 ERA in 15 starts and 48 1/3 innings. Command has been the clearest problem; he has not consistently recaptured the stuff or control that made him a standout.
Hampton has spoken openly about the mental and physical grind of the return. In July he described the season as “very, very hard” and pointed to command as the main issue even as he worked his pitch counts back up.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone had expressed measured optimism in spring, noting velocity was trending up in bullpens and that there was “still a lot of reason to be excited” once Hampton reached full strength. Those comments now sit against a year of ugly numbers and a mid-August stint on the inactive list.
Activation does not reset the season. It simply puts him back on the mound at the level where his prospect stock was built.
At 25 and already on the 40-man, Hampton still has time, but 2026 has been a reminder of how steep the climb can be after elbow reconstruction.
Somerset and the Yankees will now see whether the former top prospect can find any late-season traction.
