A former Yankees prospect who once sat near the top of the organization’s prospect lists is back in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Domingo Acevedo, now 34, has been suspended for 80 games after testing positive for PEDs, according to Bob Nightengale. Acevedo is still in the Rockies system at Triple-A, a reminder that the burly right-hander has kept hanging around pro ball long after most Yankees fans probably stopped tracking him.
Acevedo was one of the names on that 2016 Yankees Top 10 Prospects list that had fans dreaming about a brighter future while the big-league club stumbled. Aaron Judge was there, of course, but Acevedo was part of the mix too, ranked No. 7 by MLB Pipeline before slipping to No. 14 going into 2017 as new talent arrived. He was also a Yankees Futures Game representative that year.
The big arm never made it to the majors with the Yankees. In the minors, he seemed to post the same kind of line over and over: ERAs in the mid-3.00s to mid-4.00s, with strikeout totals that never quite matched his size and power. Solid, but not enough to force the issue.
His first big-league shot came with the Athletics after the pandemic. Acevedo appeared in 10 games in 2021, then 70 in 2022, when he logged a 3.33 ERA and allowed 50 hits in 67 2/3 innings. Things fell apart in 2023, when he pitched in nine games before fading out and spending most of his time in winter leagues while trying to work his way back.
That made his 2026 run with Triple-A Albuquerque a continuation of the same uneasy climb, and now the PED suspension adds another setback to a career that has already taken plenty of turns. The Yankees’ 2016 system produced more big leaguers than it first looked like it might, and Acevedo was one of the names that once carried real hope. This latest chapter is a rough one.
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