The New York Yankeesâ February 2024 trade with the rival Los Angeles Dodgers was a relatively straightforward major league transaction at the time. Innocuous, even. One team with more capable MLB-level pitchers than they had spots for them traded one of them away, in exchange for a prospect to a team with a more immediate need and somewhere to put him. Happens all the time.
However, innocuous, it may not remain.
In the deal, left-handed reliever Caleb Ferguson was sent by the Dodgers to the Yankees in exchange for fellow left-hander Matt Gage, and a right-handed pitching prospect deep down the minor league levels named Christian Zazueta. His was not a known name. However, Zazuetaâs progress has been significant – and if he becomes the major league flamethrower that his pitching metrics suggest he might, then there could be some longer-term implications to the deal.
Zazueta’s Inauspicious Beginnings
Zazueta, a native of Mexico, originally signed with the Yankees as an international free agent in January 2022. He began his professional career in the Dominican Summer League, where he spent his first two seasons developing as a starting pitcher. At the time of the trade in February 2024, then, Zazueta had not yet appeared in a full-season minor league game in the United States. There are many such players, and usually, nothing comes of it.
The Yankees therefore included him as part of the return package for Ferguson, who would post a 5.14 ERA in his 42 games with the Yankees before departing as a free agent. The deal also included Gage, a depth option currently with the San Francisco Giants with limited major league experience at the time yet who now boasts a 2.57 career ERA at the major league level. The Yankees, then, already lost the trade even without the inclusion of Zazueta. But that loss might yet get worse.
Following the trade, Zazueta was assigned to the Dodgersâ complex league affiliate before advancing to Single-A Rancho Cucamonga later in the 2024 season. And the early results were just as unremarkable, as he recorded a 6.36 ERA in Single-A on the year. Underlying metrics, though, indicated more stable performance than the earned run average alone suggested. And the stuff was – is – electric.
Zazuetaâs development took a significant step forward in 2025, his first full season at the Single-A level. He made 17 starts and posted a 2.44 ERA across 66 1.1 innings, striking out 80 batters while issuing only 16 walks. That performance earned him the Dodgersâ organizational Minor League Pitcher of the Year award, as improved command and consistency paired with a fastball-change-up combination that may earn the “unicorn” label.
Yankees Stand Only To Lose
Zazuetaâs pitch mix includes a fastball – whose 97 miles per hour velocity is nonetheless described by MLB.com as “unremarkable“, which would be impossible to comprehend a decade ago – and a changeup that both grade as above-average offerings, with control that has continued to improve as he has gained experience. His ability to limit walks while maintaining a high strikeout rate has been at the core of his progression through the Dodgersâ system – and the third pitch, the slider, is not bad either.
Entering the 2026 season, Zazueta was identified as a developing arm within the Dodgersâ minor league system, moving into the top ten of the franchise’s prospects list according to MLB.com. He impressed in Spring Breakout, showing pitches that hitters struggled to hit and building on his performance in 2025, one which included consistent multi-inning outings and efficiency in the strike zone.
As of today, the chances of Zazueta making the major leagues are small, and the the chances of excelling in it are smaller still. Nonetheless, the future of the trade can only get worse for the Yankees, who got little on their end of things. Fergusonâs tenure with the Yankees lasted only the first half of the 2024 season before he was traded again at the deadline to the Houston Astros at which point the journeyman phase of his career began.
While Zazueta has not yet reached the major leagues, his development trajectory since the trade has been notable, and the pitch mix suggests a strong upside. His 2025 season marked the first time he handled a consistent starterâs workload over an extended period, and even if he moves to the pen long term, the stuff should play well. As of the start of the 2026 season, Zazueta remains a minor league pitcher with a long way still to travel, yet while the Yankeesâ decision to include him in the 2024 trade reflected his status at the time as a lower-level prospect, it was not a meaningless one. Not yet, at least.
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