Is undrafted pitcher in Yankees organization a Cinderella story in the making?

WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. – “No way.”

It was the exact text that Harrison Cohen sent his parents, Marcia and Alan, another in a series of pinch yourself-type moments for the 24-year-old Syosset native who’s on the fast track to living out his dream of one day pitching in pinstripes.

It also didn’t always look like it would be possible.

That text? It was about his shock in randomly being assigned No. 20 with the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades to start the season, the same one his idol, Jorge Posada, grew up wearing as a pillar of the Yankees teams he grew up watching.

That moment? It came about eight months after he’d done the improbable, signing with his hometown team as an undrafted free agent (UDFA) after starring as a starter at George Washington University, perhaps overlooked by big league clubs thanks to a 6-foot, 190-pound frame and a slider that still needed some fine-tuning.

“The whole UDFA (thing), it’s something that, at this point, I was older, I had been through the process a few times, and I had the same disappointment with not getting picked, but the timing ended up being perfect at the end of last year,” Cohen said.

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“It was almost a month after the draft that I signed. It was a disappointment, and through talking with my parents and my family, they kept me strong through it. It was a huge deal, it was a huge disappointment and something I was working very hard towards, as we all do. (So, to sign) was a dream come true, obviously. The fact that it was the Yankees made it all the more special.”

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Now a reliever, Cohen has made the Yankees gamble on him look wise; skipping Low-A entirely in starting his professional career with Hudson Valley, the righty has dazzled with a 2-1 record and 2.81 ERA in his first 20 relief outings, establishing himself as a potential candidate for a late-season promotion to Somerset.

As much as he’s impressed with consistently improving stuff on the mound, he’s earned the respect of those around him for his work ethic and approach off it.

“Harrison’s a guy who is intellectual, so he has an understanding of what he’s trying to do with (pitching coach) Preston (Claiborne) and what our whole pitching department is trying to get him to do,” said Renegades manager Sergio Santos.

“So, he’s one of these guys who makes it easy in the sense that he’s the first one here, he’s asking questions, he wants to know why we’re doing certain things. Guys like that put themselves in the best position to succeed. (People may think he) doesn’t pass the eye test or he doesn’t do these things where you notice him, but the more he goes out on the mound, the more you do pay attention because the way the ball jumps out of his hand, he’s pretty special. If he can bottle that up and we can get it consistent, that’s going to be something nice.”

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Cohen says that when he’s on the mound, that he was a UDFA doesn’t cross his mind, simply that he goes into “compete mode” to show why he belongs  But, with millions invested in many of the arms around him through both the draft and international free agent signings, and it’s no secret that the margin of error for him to perform is also different than it may be for others in the system.

“It’s maybe thinner, yeah, but he’s got the realization of knowing that the window of playing the game is always closing, so he doesn’t want to leave any stone unturned when it’s all said and done, whether he makes it or he doesn’t, to say, ‘What could I have done,’” Santos said

“I think he takes care of all those things.”

It’s that mindset that’s helped him take care of business on the field, and one that’s seen him commit to the continued development of his slider; Cohen is actually throwing two different versions of it now, both the Yankees-favored “sweeper” and the more-traditional gyro, and has utilized them both as weapons, not to mention the occasional changeup, to go along with a fastball that touches 95 mph.

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“I’ve been working very hard on it, just like all of my pitches, but being able to kind of add the sweep to the slider has allowed it to take a bit of a different role in my repertoire,” he said. “I think it plays well with my fastball, and also my slider definitely used to be a little bit more gyro than sweep. But now, we’re incorporating the gyro as well to have another look. In terms of the development of the so-called ‘real slider,’ it has definitely helped allow me to have that attack mindset on the mound and be comfortable with all my pitches.”

It could be a Cinderella-type story in the making, as Cohen has the potential to move through the system quickly if he can continue to perform and evolve. He’d just have to wear a different number if he one day gets to follow in the footsteps of Posada, but that’s just fine by him.

“I definitely visualize myself someday getting to Yankee Stadium,” he said. “For now, I just allow myself to see where I am now and allow myself to focus on the now. For me, I can only control what I can control, and that’s where I allow myself to get ahead and think ahead about that. But, of course, I dream of the day that I hopefully can wear the pinstripes on the mound at Yankee Stadium.”

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Yankees prospects: Harrison Cohen dazzling in relief at Hudson Valley