Yankees pitching prospect Harrison Cohen, a Long Islander, goes from undrafted to happy camper
Harrison Cohen, a Syosset native and former Cold Spring Harbor High School pitcher, is currently in spring training camp with the Yankees down in Tampa, Fla. Credit: James Escher; Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
TAMPA, Fla. — Harrison Cohen said the “low point” of it all was July 19, 2022.
The third day of that year’s Major League Baseball amateur draft came and went, and Cohen, a Syosset native who pitched for Cold Spring Harbor High School and George Washington University, never received the call he hoped would come.
Playing at the time for the Cotuit Kettleers of the Cape Cod League, Cohen officially was an undrafted free agent.
His dream of playing in the majors — dreams shared by every player in the famed summer league — seemed further away than ever.
“I remember sitting in the outfield, because we were allowed to be on our phones on Day 3 in case you got a phone call, watching a couple of my teammates get drafted and signed, and you’re so happy for them and you’re wishing it’s you as well,” Cohen, who finished last season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and who is in his first big-league camp with the Yankees, said on Friday. “I remember sitting in the outfield during batting practice and you’re sitting there just sad.”
That night in Hyannis, Massachusetts, Cohen went to dinner with his parents, Marcia and Alan, and his then-girlfriend and now fiancee, Casey.
“It was very hard at that table, and we were all pretty emotional about it and I remember my dad told me something I’ll never forget, which was you can’t let up,” said Cohen, 26. “It’s time to go prove it. It’s time to go prove who you are and time to go prove that you deserve a shot.”
With about three weeks left in the Cape Cod League season, Cohen followed his father’s advice.
He chose wisely.
Unbeknownst to Cohen, just after the draft’s conclusion, longtime Cotuit head coach Mike Roberts, the father of former Orioles and Yankees second baseman Brian Roberts, called Damon Oppenheimer, the Yankees' director of amateur scouting.
“He said, ‘This guy’s got a chance to pitch in the big leagues. He has guts and his stuff’s getting better and better,’ ” Oppenheimer said by phone of his conversation with Roberts.
Oppenheimer had known Roberts for decades and trusted the coach, who in 2013 recommended first baseman Mike Ford, an undrafted free agent that year (Ford signed with the Yankees, debuted with them in 2019 and played with six teams in the next six years).
Oppenheimer headed to Cape Cod and watched Cohen pitch, as did one of the Yankees’ top amateur scouts, Matt Hyde (among Hyde’s recent successes are Anthony Volpe and Cam Schlittler).
Cohen, a righthander, finished strong and in mid-August — “Aug. 13,” he said with a smile — he received a call from one of Oppenheimer’s top lieutenants, assistant director of amateur scouting Mitch Colahan.
The Yankees wanted to sign Cohen, who grew up a rabid fan of the club. He signed.
“It was just pure joy of the situation when I was done with that phone call,” Cohen said. “That was a Friday, and on Sunday, I was flying into Tampa [and the club’s minor-league complex]. There was no thought about what happened prior [with the draft] as soon as that phone rang, and once it was the Yankees, it made it all that much more special.”
The 6-foot, 211-pound Cohen, slated to pitch for Team Israel in this year’s World Baseball Classic, went 3-2 with a 1.76 ERA in 49 games for Double-A Somerset and Scranton in 2025. His standout season, which included a 1.57 ERA in 29 games in Triple-A, earned him an invitation to spring training.
It wasn’t just Yankees evaluators who were impressed with Cohen’s arsenal, which features a mid-90s fastball, an improving slider and a changeup that several rival scouts believe has big-league potential.
“He deserves to be here [in camp],” said Schlittler, who played with Cohen in Somerset and Scranton. “He gets weak contact, gets ground balls and he has a great changeup. He’s aggressive with the fastball at times and he knows how to use his off-speed. He was able to see great success at Triple-A right away, which most guys don’t see when they first get up there, so I was very impressed with the leaps he’s taken.”
The Yankees’ captain also has been keeping tabs.
Aaron Judge lives in Tampa in the offseason and works out regularly at the minor-league complex. He first met Cohen the winter before the 2023 season and quickly took a liking to him.
“What stuck out to me from the start was just his enthusiasm and excitement to be a Yankee,” Judge said Friday. “And you see it in the work. The guy’s ready to go. He’s always asking questions, he wants to improve, which is cool to see. You see some young guys that are kind of like, ‘I got it figured out.’ Just from the very beginning, I saw he was a kid who wants to learn and wants to improve.”
Most undrafted free agents have the proverbial “chip” on their shoulder, and Cohen is no different. He said “it sticks with me” but called it “more of a badge” than something providing an internal drive born of anger at being bypassed in the draft.
“I want to prove why I belong and I want to never forget that I was in that situation and I want to be that person, be that ‘he went from undrafted to hopefully becoming a big-leaguer,’ ” Cohen said. “I think there’s a lot of pride that comes with that.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
