The New York Yankees bullpen is one of the premier bullpens in baseball. With the Yankees losing one of their best relievers in their history in Dellin Betances leave and not doing much to replace him, it seems like a spot for an in-house option. For me, the most popular choices are Jonathon Loaisiga and Deivi Garcia for the spot of a right-handed option out of the bullpen. Sure they are good picks, but I think the Yankees should try to invest innings in the hard-throwing Ben Heller in 2020.
Pretty Nasty Stuff
Ben Heller has a fastball that always is in the mid to high 90s which is more common now in 2020 than it was in 2000 but is still pretty good. He also sports a curveball, changeup, and a slider that are promising. His short stints make his results to inconsistent to even look at. What I can look at however is the metrics of the pitch, not the result to see if there is any potential.
Ben Heller is able to garner a high Whiff% on his pitches, and though they had not always resulted in strikeouts, Heller’s short career makes said results hard to use. A high Whiff% on his breaking pitches shows promise, and his fastball averaging 94 and 96 MPH and a sinker at 93 MPH, he shows that his arm is pretty good and that he can power some pitches if need be. With his ability to crank up the heat and generate swings and misses, if given 30 innings he can be VERY good and possibly even one of our better relievers.
Great Developmental History
The Yankees have done a great job historically of having in-house relief options as of late. Ben Heller is in an organization that shows they have MiLB coaches who can help youngsters and veterans, such as Chad Green and Tommy Kahnle resurging after struggles. The New York Yankees also brought in the analytically advanced pitching coach in Matt Blake, so I believe he’s in the right organization to grow.
If he can be healthy in a shortened season I could see Ben Heller have a solid stat line and continue to grow in later years. His numbers with his stuff could look like this:
3.50 ERA
3.40 FIP
3.30 xFIP
9.5 K/9
Why do I have his peripherals better than his actual numbers? I believe that Heller still needs more time to truly become a really good reliever, but he will still experience success that will lead to a big step in 2020.