Yesterday the New York Yankees continued their slew of Minor League and waiver wire transactions by claiming LHP Brent Headrick off of waivers from the Minnesota Twins. The left-handed reliever is now on their 40-man roster and is entering his age-27 season, standing at a massive 6’6 with a 5.97 ERA across 15 MLB appearances.
A starter at the Minor League level, the Twins have used him exclusively as a reliever in the big leagues, and the Yankees could have an intriguing project arm on their hands here. A lanky left-hander with good secondaries that help play up a slower fastball, Headrick could transition into the bullpen for good, where his fastball velocity might tick up a bit and his secondaries could become even more devastating.
With both a plus changeup and a plus slider to pair with a four-seamer that can get outs at the top of the zone, Brent Headrick could be a sneaky pick to make the team out of camp.
How the Yankees Can Maximize Brent Headrick’s Value in 2025
Brent Headrick has shifted more from a traditional starter to a multi-inning reliever, a role where he’s seen his fastball velocity climb up from 90-92 to 91-93 MPH, and he’s been able to up both the spin and vertical movement on that pitch as well. With 17.6 inches of IVB last season compared to 16.6 in 2023, Headrick’s fastball plays a little better at the top of the zone, but this pitch consistently grades out as nothing more than an average heater.
He used this pitch over 50% of the time at Triple-A in both 2023 and 2024, but in his lone MLB outing last season, Headrick relied way more on his slider to get outs. The Yankees should help the left-hander become more comfortable spinning sliders and breaking off changeups to help keep hitters off of his four-seamer, which can be more of an early count pitch to get ahead in the count.
What could decreasing the usage of his fastball do? First and foremost, it could limit the amount of damage contact he allows, as in 28.2 MLB innings he’s allowed eight home runs and in the past two MiLB seasons he’s allowed a 1.34 HR/9. A huge chunk of the damage has come against his fastball, and throwing more secondaries not only makes his fastball more deceptive, but it would induce more swings and misses.
The pitch that the Yankees may try and push Brent Headrick to utilize more is his changeup, a weapon that plays very well off of his four-seam fastball that allows him to effectively put away right-handed hitters.
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With ~10 inches of vertical separation off of his fastball and a ~10 MPH difference in velocity, Brent Headrick’s changeup can attack the lower quadrants of the zone tailing away from right-handed hitters. A pitch that the 27-year-old has used between 10-20% of the time in his professional career, the Yankees could push that usage rate to the 25-30% range and subtract from his overall fastball usage.
Headrick’s changeup is also his best damage prevention pitch, and that ability to avoid barrels could help with the aforementioned home run issue. Dialing down his fastball usage rate to righties and incorporating his changeup might help his heater remain more effective as hitters won’t see that pitch as often, being less prepared to see it when they do in a count.
Pushing a more aggressive usage of a tertiary pitch could be problematic for hitters with poor command, but for someone with excellent command like Brent Headrick, the increase in walk rate may not hinder him much. I think the Yankees would be fine with the left-hander walking ~10% of batters faced if it cut his HR/9 below 1.00, especially since he’s been able to strike out around 25% of batters faced.
That could result in a sub-4.00 ERA at the Major League level, and that would be a success for a waiver claim who comes at a league-minimum cost.