Yankees send hyped prospect Carlos Lagrange to minors after impressive camp

TAMPA — Coming into camp, the idea that there would be an actual decision to make on whether or not Carlos Lagrange should break with the Yankees would have seemed a bit unrealistic.That is how impressive the club’s top pitching prospect has been all spring.On Thursday, the Yankees finally informed the 22-year-old right-hander that they were reassigning him to minor league camp, but did so with the belief that it won’t be the last time they see Lagrange this season.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.

“He’s made it a difficult decision, which coming into this, I wouldn’t have even thought there was a decision,” manager Aaron Boone said.“He’s definitely got everyone’s attention.

I love where he’s at.I would not be surprised if he is impacting us early, middle, later part of the season, I don’t know.

But I can just tell you we’re all very excited about his continued development and what we think he can mean to our team at some point.”The flame-throwing Lagrange did more than just light up the radar gun, though he did plenty of that, too.Most importantly, he showed a much better ability to consistently throw strikes than he has in the minor leagues, walking only four in 13 2/3 innings while posting a 0.66 ERA.

He also demonstrated a good feel for his secondary pitches, which along with the improved command could go a long way in making sure he stays a starter in the long run.It is possible that Lagrange could get up to The Bronx quicker in a relief role this season, but the way he pitched this spring only reinforced the high ceiling of what he could look like as a starter.“You could imagine it right now being really effective in certain roles,” Boone said.“So I don’t know if we were ever going to break [camp] with him, but I would say we’ve at least talked about it.“What he’s done the last six weeks definitely made us t...