Ben Hess is enjoying an excellent first season with the Yankees, sporting a 3.33 ERA in 21 starts between High-A and Double-A with impressive strikeout numbers.
He’s seen the fastball velocity uptick midseason, sitting closer to 93-95 MPH with elite vertical movement relative to his low release height.
Sporting his signature curveball and a new changeup that has tons of movement, Hess has developed one of the better repertoires in the Yankees’ system.
With another wonderful start last night where he allowed one run across five innings with seven strikeouts, he’s lowered his ERA in Double-A to 2.93, and there’s a shot that he could even make his MLB debut in 2026.
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The Yankees Could Have Another Big-Time Pitching Prospect in Ben Hess
With a 2.93 ERA and 2.24 FIP in his first six starts at the Double-A level, Ben Hess has looked unphased by facing better hitters in the Eastern League.
He’s punched out 32% of batters faced with a 9% walk rate, as his strike-throwing has improved since moving up from High-A, an encouraging sign for his future outlook.
Command is by far Hess’ biggest issue as a pitcher, his stuff is phenomenal and the movement he generates on his pitches are good enough to get whiffs against quality hitters.
His four-seamer is one of the best in the system due to his combination of a low release height, good extension, and excellent vertical movement.
It’s a unique fastball due to those traits, and as he continues to build velocity, this could be a high-whiff pitch at the top of the zone.
Ben Hess (@Yankees No. 6 prospect) threw a shortened complete game to earn his third straight winning decision!
Final line: 5.0 IP | 4 H | 1 ER | 1 BB | 7 K pic.twitter.com/Y1rYiV8uo2
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) September 5, 2025
This four-seamer sets up a slow curveball with tons of two-plane movement, generating a lot of whiffs at the bottom of the zone.
It also is great for stealing strikes since it has so much movement, often freezing hitters and letting Ben Hess get ahead in the count.
I’d consider his curveball the best pitch in his repertoire, and his feel for he pitch is extremely encouraging as it’ll allow him to get opposite-handed hitters out.
Ben Hess has a new changeup with the Yankees that has tons of depth and lateral movement, causing lefties to swing right over it for strikeouts.
The feel for this pitch lags behind his curveball, but the shape of the pitch is excellent and the upside for it is extremely encouraging.
What Ben Hess needs is a better slider, something he can reliably spin away from right-handed batters since better competition will identify the large variations in movement between his fastball, curveball, and changeup.
The current slider he has is a tight gyro slider, but it’s not used a lot because its very clearly his fourth best pitch in both shape and command.
It’s not something I’m overly worried about since Hess spins the ball well and the Yankees develop sliders at a high rate, even an average slider could take this repertoire over the top.
Ben Hess has had an awesome first season as a pro, and finishing the year in Double-A puts him in position to make his debut in mid 2026 or early 2027 depending on how he progresses.
Command is the key to his success, and I’m excited to see how his second season in the organization goes given how far he’s come in year one.