Just a few days after adding fellow starter Corey Kluber on a major league contract that will pay him $11 million in 2021, the New York Yankees made a low-profile signing that could, eventually, have some upside. The Bombers signed right-handed pitcher Asher Wojciechowski to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale broke the news via Twitter on Thursday afternoon. The Yankees keep adding necessary depth pieces to their rotation, as their current group is talented, but not without question marks.
The deal will pay Wojciechowski a $750,000 salary if he makes it to the big leagues, per Nightengale. The hurler is 32 and had a 6.82 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, and 31/15 K/BB ratio in 37 innings of work (seven starts, three relief appearances) last season with the Baltimore Orioles.
Wojciechowski’s career MLB ERA is 5.95.
He had a 4.92 ERA in 2019, in 82.1 innings, with a 8.74 K/9 and a 3.06 BB/9 in 17 games, 16 of them starts.
The new Yankees’ starter has home run issues
Wojciechowski’s biggest issue in the majors has been, by far, the home run ball. In 198 frames in the bigs, he has allowed an alarming two home runs per nine innings. If he wants to succeed with the New York Yankees, he will have to find a solution.
He represents an intriguing project for the Yankees’ director of pitching Sam Briend and pitching coach Matt Blake.
Stuff-wise, Wojciechowski throws a low-90s fastball that averages around 91 miles per hour. He complements that with a curveball and a slider. He rarely (around 5 percent of the time) uses a changeup.
The Yankees will try to parlay his 11.0 swinging strike rate (SwStr%) which is actually not bad at all, into more strikeouts and, hopefully, consistency. Asher Wojciechowski is a low-risk signing for the organization that will, at the very least, solidify the overall organizational depth.