Yankees Designate Thomas Neal For Assignment By Jeff Todd [August 2 at 6:02pm CST] The Yankees have designated outfielder Thomas Neal for assignment, reports MLB.com's Bryan Hoch (via Twitter). After a brief call-up, he had been optioned to Triple-A by the club last week to make way for Alfonso Soriano. Neal received only thirteen plate appearances over four games with the Yankees this season after signing a minor league deal over the winter. Across 297 Triple-A plate appearances, Neal was producing at an attractive .325/.391/.411 clip. Once a highly-regarded prospect with the Giants, Neal is still only 25 years old.