In 2022, the Yankees used their fifth-round pick on hard-throwing reliever Eric Reyzelman out of LSU, but it would take a couple of years for him to get the ball rolling. With a 7.71 ERA across just 11.2 innings pitched from 2022-2023, it wouldn’t be a perfect start to his Minor League career as injuries and inconsistency would hold him back, but 2024 has proven to be the exact kind of breakout season he needed. An electric power arm with both the velocity and deception to rack up strikeouts, Eric Reyzelman is the best reliever in this farm system, and he could be an impact arm in 2025.
His stuff is dominant, and with the year he’s having and the bullpen questions the Yankees will have to answer after this season, he’s an arm to keep an eye on.
Eric Reyzelman Could Crack the Yankees’ Bullpen in 2025
Rehabbing from an injury that cut his 2023 season short, Eric Reyzelman wouldn’t make his first appearance until May 28th in a rehab outing with the FCL Yankees. He would make a mockery of those hitters, striking out 47.4% of batters faced with zero earned runs allowed, a trend that would continue even after being assigned to High-A. With the Renegades he didn’t allow a run either, striking out 47.2% of batters faced and swiftly earning a promotion to Double-A with the Somerset Patriots.
While the walk rate has been pretty high since the promotion (12.8%), it’s come with a monstrous 36% strikeout rate and a sparkling 2.25 ERA. The right-hander has a three-pitch mix that’s highlighted by a power fastball that can reach the upper 90s but typically settles in the 95-96 MPH range. With good vertical movement and low slot release, he’s able to attack the top of the zone consistently for swings and misses, and it’s further played up by an excellent slider as well, a pitch that has good two-plane movement and sits in the mid-80s.
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There’s a solid changeup in there as well, and while I don’t view it as a particularly dominant offering, it does get a lot of vertical drop and can miss bats when located properly. His bread-and-butter is the fastball-slider combination but if he can develop consistent command with that pitch it could become an excellent weapon for him. What helps play up his entire arsenal is that his release points are lower than what you would expect for a fastball with good vertical ride, which can deceive hitters and make it hard for them to track the movement of the ball.
Eric Reyzelman is a strikeout machine, and the Yankees should be excited about his development since it looks like he’s seamlessly adapting to higher levels of MiLB. The next step would be Triple-A, and while I’d understand if they didn’t promote him there with only a couple of weeks left on the Minor League schedule, it would be something worth considering. The ball at that level more similarly mirrors the one used at the Major League level, and that can throw pitchers off as they try to adjust to the new ball and generate vertical ride.
If the 23-year-old right-hander sees his stuff adapt seamlessly, then he could be in big league camp fighting for a job in their bullpen, but in all likelihood I expect him to get more looks in mid-2025. The stuff is big-league ready, and the Yankees have a dynamic arm at the Minor League level who is getting close to being a capable contributor at the highest level.