The 2026 Season Is Here

Bridgewater, New Jersey - The grand pomp and circumstance of Opening Day at TD Bank Ballpark is primed on new beginnings and a clean slate for a long season ahead. It embodies everything that the spring season represents – every goal feels imminently achievable when starting with a fresh slate. It is also a friendly reminder of just how quickly a player's trajectory can change from one season to the next.

Last year’s Somerset Opening Day starter Cam Schlittler is off to a hot start in the Bronx🔥 pic.twitter.com/dXqLcjyusD

— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) April 2, 2026

Nearly one year ago, 364 days in the rearview to be exact, right-hander Cam Schlittler toed the bump as Somerset’s Opening Day starter as a promising but unheralded prospect looking to carve out his place in a crowded Yankees pipeline. Twelve months later, Schlittler is no longer climbing the ladder in the system – he has quickly ascended to the top rung and established himself as one of the most polarizing arms in baseball while doing so under the bright lights of New York. His jump to the big leagues is a testament to the organization’s player development system and how a successful stop in Bridgewater can quickly propel you to the Bronx.

Schlittler is just the most recent name in a long list of talent that has developed in Somerset since the team became the Yankees Double-A affiliate in 2021. In the five seasons since that partnership was established, the Patriots have had a prominent role in sending 51 different minor league players to the major leagues.

The Fresh Prince of Somerset, James Cooper👑 pic.twitter.com/BjWW97ifvR

— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) April 1, 2026

The new stable of players that compile the makeup of the 2026 Patriots are slated to have a new voice at the helm in manager James Cooper after Raul Dominguez moved on to become the defensive coach at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after serving as the team’s skipper for the last three seasons.

The 44-year-old Cooper, who is a Grambling State University alum, managed his alma matter from 2010-2021 before joining the Yankees in 2022. With strong reviews from players that he has worked with and upper level player development staffers, Cooper enters his fifth season in the organization and fourth in a managerial role after successful stints in the FCL, Low-A and most recently High-A. In Hudson Valley last season, he led the Renegades to a franchise best 79 victories in 2025.

“Anytime that you move up, it’s exciting,” Cooper said. “It comes with new challenges, and I think that I am ready for them, and I think the group of guys that we have here will be ready for them also.”

Cooper said he addressed his group in Tampa for breaking camp and heading north last week and laid out all of the possibilities that come ahead. In describing himself in a managerial role, Cooper likened himself to Geoffrey, the popular butler from one of his favorite television shows, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

“The butler is the guy that sets the thermostat in the household,” Cooper explained. “He controls the heat, he controls the AC. So, with these guys, the relationships that we have, they understand that if I'm turning the heat up on them, it's because I kind of feel it's going to benefit them. I have a good enough relationship to know when to turn the air on and cool them off at times. So, I think that would best describe me.”

In his first crack at the gig in Double-A, Cooper will assuredly be glued to the thermostat and monitoring the temperature of a roster that includes seven of the Yankees top 30 ranked prospects, which is headlined by the franchise's crown jewel, George Lombard Jr.

“Coop is the man,” said Lombard Jr. “I have had him at every level so far and he may be my favorite manager that I have ever had. He is always there for you, whatever it is, and he is always very prepared. He’s got a great attitude with everything that he does, and I am excited to have him here this year.”

The talented shortstop is coming off of a 2025 campaign in which he spent 108 games in Double-A as a ripe 20-year-old. Despite having a defensive skillset that most evaluators describe as already being major league ready right now, the No. 30 ranked prospect in the game by MLB Pipeline bulked up over the winter and went back to the drawing board to clean up his offensive approach after hitting just .235 last season. Heading into action on Friday night, the organization’s top prospect believes he is in a good place coming out of the gate.

“I just focused on a couple of things on the offensive side; just a couple of tweaks of the swing in getting it right both mechanically and approach-wise,” Lombard Jr. explained. “It is all very small tweaks – I didn’t really think I needed a full overhaul or anything, it was just small little tweaks that we made here and there. A lot of stuff is just mental cues and different thought processes – it’s just the small stuff.”

“I know that I am prepared for the year, and I know that I have done my work to put myself in a good spot,” Lombard Jr. added. “For me, my focus this year is just making sure that I stay on that and continue sticking to my routine and sticking to my preparation. Always the biggest focus will be to win games wherever I am at, whether that is here for however long I’m here, Scranton, the big leagues…wherever it is, I want to stay on the field, stay healthy and win games.”

Cooper has managed Lombard Jr. at every level of minor league ball and aims to keep moving Lombard up the ladder.

“They told me the other day that I’ve given George all of his promotions, so I’m hoping to keep that streak alive this year,” said Cooper. “I know the fans may not like to hear that, but we need to do a really good job of getting that guy where he needs to go and of course, the next stop for him is Triple-A.”

Yankees No. 20 ranked prospect Jace Avina figures to play a massive role for this team as he enters his first full season at Double-A after seeing 46 games of action for the Patriots in the second half of last season. The 22-year-old has gone from relatively unknown to a prospect poised to take a jump into the top half of the system after slashing .260/.366/.425 with 11 homers in only 98 games last season. The versatile Avina is able to comfortably slot across all three outfield posts and after using an offseason that he focused heavily on the mental dynamics of the game, he feels poised to take another leap forward in his development.

“Definitely [focused] on the mental side and being able to stay consistent throughout the year,” Avina explained. “I think sometimes when I don’t perform well, I can get down on myself because I am a super competitive guy so for me it is just refining the mental tools and being able to flush it and make my bad times be less time...It’s a big jump going from High-A to Double-A but now I just feel more prepared after getting some time up here last year – I just feel more prepared to come out here and compete.”

Your 2026 Somerset Patriots Opening Day starter, @Yankees No. 5 prospect Ben Hess. pic.twitter.com/bQO9OXaU99

— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) April 1, 2026

When the season begins on Friday night against Portland, Cooper will hand the ball to No. 5 ranked prospect Ben Hess to set the tone in the season opener. The Bombers 2024 first-round draft selection tossed 103.1 innings in his professional debut between High-A and Somerset last season, and the imposing righty is looking to build off of his strong debut campaign.

“I’m super excited,” Hess said. “You wait all offseason for Opening Day. I’m very grateful that I’m the one that gets to throw. The sooner the better, right? I’m super, super appreciative of the opportunity, and I’m excited to get things going.”

Cooper added how much Hess impressed him in year one and how his continued development throughout the spring makes him excited for what he can contribute this season.

“Big fella is a workhorse,” Cooper explained. “He comes from the University of Alabama, and he had a chance to pitch some meaningful innings for us in Hudson Valley this past season as well as the playoff run in Somerset. When you do that, you find yourself in big league camp; I think he earned it and think he did a good job with it this past Spring Training and we are looking forward to him picking up where he left off as far as spring training is concerned because he finished on a good note. I am excited to see the better version of Ben Hess on Friday night.”

Following Hess in the rotation is No. 11 ranked prospect, Kyle Carr, who had a tough introduction to Double-A in a short late-season stint to close out 2025 despite pitching to a cumulative 2.64 ERA in 133 innings of work. The southpaw is slated to take the ball against the Sea Dogs on Saturday and looks to put his brief Double-A struggles behind him.

“I was just glad to get up here even though it didn’t go the way that I wanted it to,” Carr said of his 2025 time in Somerset. “I feel like I know what to expect this year, so I am excited to show that my stuff is better than what I showed last year.”

The 2026 Patriots roster is very much a strong mix of experienced Double-A contributors that are surrounded by ascending prospects trying to find their footing at the upper levels for the first time. Cooper will lean heavily on returning hitting coach Mike Fransoso and new pitching coach Demetre Kokoris to evaluate and guide adjustments in the early going of this new campaign.

“To whom much is given, much is required,” Cooper said. “You’re at a different level so those requirements may intensify a little bit in certain areas. We want to always be the same whether we are up by 10 or down by 10. We want these guys to have the same preparation whether they are in Double-A, Triple-A or the big leagues... A lot of the times, the message that Shelley [Duncan] is preaching in Triple-A is the same one that I am preaching here which is also going to line up when those guys get to the Bronx.”

Patriots baseball is back at last and when first pitch is thrown on Friday night, the objective for Cooper and his staff is clear – compete, develop and prepare players for what is ahead. Turning potential into production and prospects into big leaguers remains the name of the game in Somerset.

Matt Kardos | SomersetPatriots.com Senior Writer

Matt Kardos has covered the Yankees minor league system for over a decade and will spend his 14th season on the beat covering the Patriots for SomersetPatriots.com. Throughout his career, Matt has contributed to MLB.com, YES Network and Pinstriped Prospects. When he’s not at the ballpark, Matt enjoys traveling with his wife Kimberly, watching Jets football and collecting sports cards.