While Clay Holmes and Tommy Kahnle are both expected to hit free agency, making some dents in the Yankees bullpen, they’ll have some internal options in case they don’t re-sign. An organization that has done an excellent job with pitchers, Sam Briend and Matt Blake have had some great development successes since coming to the Bronx after the 2019 season. The Yankees are hoping for both Eric Reyzelman and Clayton Beeter to join that list, and while injuries have limited them in one way or another over the last two seasons, they’ve shown a lot of promise.
Both possess the power fastballs and swing-and-miss stuff that this team will need to try and add to their bullpen moving forward, and I expect them to make a serious push for a spot on the Yankees in Spring Training.
Eric Reyzelman Has Broken Onto the Yankees’ Prospect Scene
A lot of attention goes towards starting pitchers or position players when it comes to breakout seasons on the Minor League side of things. This isn’t to say that there isn’t a clear value gap between a starting pitcher and a relief pitcher, but rather to say that developing bullpen arms can help a contender in more ways than you might think. The Yankees are in a position where they may have to spend significant money to improve their bullpen for 2025, and this year’s been a reflection of how much they’ve relied on project arms over proven pitchers.
The prototype for an excellent reliever usually revolves around having a dominant fastball and at least one excellent secondary pitch, and Eric Reyzelman fits that mold perfectly. Across three different levels of the Minor Leagues, Reyzelman has a 1.19 ERA with a 42.3% K%, and while some of his numbers have come against lesser competition in the Complex League or High-A, he’s been dominant in Double-A as well. His 2.01 ERA and 39.4% K% are dominant figures, and there’s a good chance we see him at some point in 2025.
Everything starts with his electric fastball, a pitch that sits in the mid-90s and has touched 98 MPH routinely, but the movement and release height help that pitch play up even further. The right-hander releases from a much lower slot than one would expect for a fastball with good vertical movement, and that makes it even harder for hitters to get on top of as it crosses the plate.
On top of having a dominant fastball, Reyzelman throws a slider with two-plane movement that he can tie lefties up with or get righties to chase out of the zone. His changeup has been solid as well, and the ability to mix in all three pitches routinely should allow him to have plenty of success at the highest level. Eric Reyzelman fits the mold of a high-leverage weapon, and the Yankees should be aggressive with his promotions because he looks like he doesn’t belong in the Eastern League on most days.
Another quirk in his game is that he’s experienced as a multi-inning reliever, and could give a team length if needed as he’s been a starter before. I don’t expect him to return to a rotation role at any point in his professional career, but it’s a good background to have since it gives a team more lanes to use a pitcher in. His upside is enormous relative to the reliever position, it’s just a matter of staying healthy so he can continue to miss bats at a high level. Projections already view him favorably, with Steamer projecting him for a 3.81 ERA in 2024 despite having just 20 Double-A appearances.
His stuff grades out extremely well and he can miss bats at a very high level, command is still a question mark but those are the kinds of things that can iron themselves out with more time on a mound. It’s a bit more of a leap to say he will be on this team in 2025 because he hasn’t pitched in Triple-A yet, but I expect him to at least be in the mix going into Spring Training.
Could Clayton Beeter Move Into a Bullpen Role In 2025?
When the Yankees acquired Clayton Beeter from the Dodgers for Joey Gallo, they were getting a starting pitcher and were set on letting him pitch as one. Since joining the organization they’ve emphasized letting him build up and get himself acclimated to the workload of a full-time starter. The results have been up and down, mostly because his command hasn’t been great even as he’s pitched well this past season in Triple-A. Through his first seven starts of the 2024 season, he had a 2.53 ERA and 17.2% K-BB% in Triple-A, but an injury would knock him out for months after.
Brian Cashman spoke with the media a few months ago about the shoulder problem and there was a fear it could have been season-ending, but as September rolled around, Beeter emerged off the IL. He worked as a reliever in Somerset for two brilliant outings before making it back to Scranton, where he was utterly dominant across his two innings of work. I would say that his stuff has never looked better than it had last night, hitting 97 MPH on the radar gun multiple times and averaging 96.3 MPH on the night.
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While his high release height makes the movement of his fastball rather predictable, the ability to consistently sit in the upper 90s and pair it with a slider that moves as much as he does vertically is excellent. When his fastball and slider are on batters have little chance of doing anything against him, and we’ve seen a small but important change in the way he delivers the ball. Instead of working out of the windup, Clayton Beeter goes from the set with no one on, and the results have been pretty encouraging thus far.
In his three appearances out of the bullpen, he’s yet to walk a batter with a strikeout rate of 47.1%, and while it’s a small sample size it’s at least a good start. His velocity has been way up out of the bullpen as well, and unlike Reyzelman, there’s a very real chance that he could make the team out of camp in 2025. Beeter has already made his Major League debut, pitching a clean inning in Houston back in March to end a game, and the Yankees seem to think highly of him. It wouldn’t even shock me if he came up to pitch soon because the Triple-A season ends today and the team needs help.
The Yankees could also build him back up as a starter in 2025, although I wonder if they would rather have him come out of the bullpen to work at the big-league level and go from there. It was valuable for Clarke Schmidt and Michael King, who have had strong 2024 campaigns as starting pitchers for the Yankees and Padres. We’ve also seen them utilize young pitchers like Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez in those roles, where they provided plenty of value for the Yankees in 2023 and ended up being moved for Juan Soto.
Luke Weaver, who has immediately won over the fanbase as the closer, was a starter who they converted into a reliever this past season as well. The Yankees don’t have to call it quits on Clayton Beeter being a starter, but the uptick in stuff out of the bullpen and his clear limitations in pitch diversity and command may make him a more attractive reliever.