After Taking Time to Adjust, Xavier Rivas is Dominating at Double-A

Bridgewater, New Jersey – The line in the box score was impossible to ignore. It stared back like a scarlet letter. It read 4.1 IP, 11 H and 11 R with 5 HR allowed. It was a night to forget, no doubt.

For a young pitcher trying to establish himself at Double-A, an outing like the one Patriots’ southpaw Xavier Rivas had against New Hampshire on May 28 can become much bigger than just a bad night. It can rattle confidence, derail development and mentally linger far beyond a single start.

Instead, that forgettable night became a turning point. Rather than allowing the worst start of his professional career to define him, the Yankees' No. 23 prospect sifted through every pitch, learned from it and quickly put it in the rearview mirror. Six weeks later, Rivas has emerged as one of the Eastern League's hottest pitchers, proving that growth doesn’t solely stem from success.

"Outings like that, they wake you up," Rivas said. "Not that I was complacent before, but it definitely brings out another level of intensity not wanting to get hit around like that. It showed me just how important it is to get ahead of hitters and what to do when teams start ambushing."

While the stat sheet certainly wasn’t pretty, the outing wasn’t as bad as the scoreboard may have suggested according to the data under the hood.

Rivas said that his signature splitter he categorizes as his bread-and-butter offering, lacked its usual bite. Meanwhile, the shape of his slider wasn’t quite normal. He fell behind in counts and on a night when the wind was blowing out, several fly balls carried beyond the outfield wall. There is no denying the results, but the process, Rivas said, was not as flawed as the box score indicated.

"The way we look at things on the pitching side, a lot of the processes weren't really bad that game," Rivas said. "There were a lot of learning moments in that one. The only way to do it is to keep going and know that 99 out of 100 times, that’s not going to happen to you.”

When Rivas made an early exit that night, his ERA had ballooned to 7.11 through nine appearances in his first stab at Double-A. Since then, the lefty who turned 24 years-old on Saturday, has looked a lot like the hurler that posted a 3.38 ERA with 113 punchouts in just 85.1 innings across three levels in his first season of pro action last year.

Over his last six outings dating back to June 4, Rivas has surrendered just five earned runs across 26.2 innings, good for a 1.69 ERA while lowering his season mark to 4.63. Remove that lone outing against New Hampshire, and his ERA would sit at 3.17.

Xavier was eXcellent🤩@MiLB has named LHP Xavier Rivas (@Yankees No. 23 prospect) as the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week for games played 6/16-6/21. pic.twitter.com/Ne2t8Ullgw

— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) June 22, 2026

The highlight of the recent stretch came on June 17 vs. Portland where Rivas earned Eastern League Pitcher of the Week honors after tossing 5.2 no-hit innings with 0 R, 8 K and 2 BB. He became the first Patriot southpaw to win the honor since J.P. Sears in June 2021, while his 5.2 no-hit innings were the most-ever in a single game by a Patriot lefty.

Getting ahead of hitters is paramount for Rivas and the data backs that up. When he is ahead in the count, he has a 0.45 WHIP while opposing hitters are batting .133 against him. When he falls behind, his WHIP climbs to 2.93 and his BAA rises to .204.

“The quality of hitter [in the Eastern League] has been a pretty big jump - I think the biggest jump that I have seen so far across the other levels,” Rivas said. “Your mistakes get highlighted a lot more and I think that’s why this is such a good learning level.”

Rivas said that Double-A doesn’t allow him to get away with mistakes that might have flown under the radar in High-A. That’s forced him to learn and adjust quicker, “because it punches you in the face.”

Those adjustments have already proven to be tangible for the Yankees 2024 16th round draft selection out of Ole Miss. In his 15 appearances this season, Rivas has fanned 84 batters in just 58.1 innings, which ranks fifth-best in the Yankees system. His strikeout percentage has climbed year-over-year from 31.3% to 34.1% while his walk percentage has trimmed down from 13.9% to 12.2%.

Not only is his command improving, but so is his pure stuff. Rivas, who is equipped with a three-pitch package that features a four-seam fastball, a splitter and a gyro-slider, said his average fastball velocity has climbed to 92 MPH. That is nearly two full ticks up on the radar gun since entering pro ball last year. The Indiana-native credits the Yankees pitching department with helping him throw harder and for teaching him how to do so more efficiently.

“It’s just learning how to be way more efficient with the energy transfer in the delivery,” Rivas said. “It has mostly just been video work and doing drills to fine tune the delivery and that’s what I am trying to do - not only to get the velo up but improve the command. I’m not trying to have as much effort in the delivery and find that velo at a more effortless level.”

Rivas has long been a proponent of setting goals and trying to manifest his thoughts and energy into making them a reality. Back in his collegiate days pitching in Oxford he kept a dry erase board with stat-based goals like ERA and strikeouts. Since entering pro ball, he has ditched those pursuits in favor of process-oriented goals that are stronger indicators of future success like fastball zone rate and velocity.

“I love how much we emphasize the process over the results,” Rivas said. “Not that results don’t matter but with minor league baseball it’s chaotic. There’s a lot of different things that can go into things like ERA that are really tough over a minor league season sometimes, especially in shorter sample sizes.”

It’s a change of pace from Ole Miss. In college, Rivas said winning was everything. Now, the focus is on how to become a big leaguer. Rivas hopes to make it to Triple-A and ultimately wants to don the pinstripes as a Yankee in the big leagues. Those ambitions are strong and he is doing everything in his power to make those dreams a reality.

“You never just want to be in Double-A forever, or High-A forever or wherever you’re at,” Rivas said. “You are battling being present in your shoes and enjoying where you are at but also, I want to be at Triple-A, and I want to be in the big leagues, and I think we should all want to be in the big leagues right now.”

For now, the next opportunity will come on Sunday, when Rivas is slated to face Reading for the second time in five days after allowing just 2 ER with 6 K over 6.0 against the Fightin Phils last Tuesday. It’s the first time in his professional career he’s facing the same opponent twice in a six-game series.

“It’s going to be a little bit more of a chess match,” Rivas said. “Some of the guys that got me earlier in the week, I am going to try and make adjustments on them. And some of the guys that I got, they are going to make adjustments on me, and we get to play a little bit more of a game.”

Only six weeks ago, Rivas headed for an early exit wanting to flush one of the most disappointing starts of his career. It turns out the one he wanted to forget may have become the one that changed everything.

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.