With the New York Yankees needing a fresh arm to help their pitching staff, they’ve shuffled the roster around to make some space for an arm who has been in the organization for quite some time. Josh Maciejewski, a left-handed reliever selected by the organization in the 10th Round of the 2018 MLB Draft, has been selected to the Major League roster after sporting some impressive innings in the upper levels of the Minor Leagues. The 28-year-old has made two appearances this season already, with 4.2 scoreless frames and five strikeouts for the Scranton RailRiders.
Jake Cousins, who the team acquired in a deal with the Chicago White Sox, will go down to Scranton as a result, and Clayton Andrews finds himself designated for assignment to create room for Maciejewski.
Josh Maciejewski Joins the Yankees, Jake Cousins Demoted To AAA
The Yankees have a worn-down bullpen after having to get more than five innings worth of outs in consecutive games against the Toronto Blue Jays. Not having a day off before they take on the Miami Marlins, they’ve chosen to use the option Jake Cousins has to make room for a reinforcement in the bullpen. Josh Maciejewski is a name who can give the Yankees multiple innings if needed, throwing a 90-91 MPH sinker with plenty of armside movement from a lower arm slot with a slow slider and sharp changeup that he uses to get groundballs and whiffs.
Between Double-A and Triple-A last season, Maciejewski had a 2.96 ERA and 46 strikeouts across 45.2 innings pitched, with his ability to keep the ball on the ground helping him plenty. The southpaw won’t overpower opposing hitters, but he does provide some value as a multi-inning relief option with some deceptive and funky arm angles that can potentially throw off opposing hitters. It also gives them another option against lefties, since Caleb Ferguson is likely not available today after throwing the night before.
A roster casualty of this move was Clayton Andrews, who struggled in Spring Training and Triple-A as the Yankees were hoping he could hopefully provide depth in their bullpen. Designated for assignment, he is now on waivers and can be claimed by any team in the league, or he could accept an outright assignment that keeps him in Triple-A. The Yankees are in a weird spot with their bullpen, as Tommy Kahnle continues to throw and get ready for the season.
Scott Effross and Lou Trivino are expected to join the bullpen later in the summer as well, so their bullpen could look entirely different in just a few short months. This transaction seems like a short-term solution to their fatigue issues, as the Yankees have had to overuse the bullpen to get outs in this recent series. Starting pitching hasn’t been an issue from a run-prevention standpoint, but they would certainly love to get more length from the rotation sooner rather than later so that they can avoid having to shuttle names up and down.