The New York Yankees could use a bit more bullpen support after placing Clay Holmes and Scott Effross on the injured list this past week. The expectation is that Ron Marinaccio will take on a more prevalent role, but the team could look at their Triple-A squad in Scranton, pulling up another tantalizing young rookie.
On the docket, this time around is Greg Weissert, a 27-year-old closer from Bayshore, New York. At 6’2″ and 215 pounds, the right-handed pitcher is having a tremendous season with Scranton, featuring a 1.76 ERA over 40 games pitched. He’s tossed 46 innings, allowing 22 hits and nine earned runs, including three homers with 67 strikeouts.
The Yankees would be elevating an MLB-ready player in Weissert:
In fact, Weissert hasn’t allowed a run in his last 22 appearances, collecting 33 strikeouts and five walks in that time span. As the team tries to supplement a few deficiencies and losses, mitigating fatigue with a player like Weissert makes a ton of sense.
- Yankees are getting incredible value from veteran catcher
- Yankees’ closer has quietly been a huge part of the team’s hot start
- Yankees’ veteran infielder is set to begin rehab assignment on Friday
Joel Sherman of the New York Post indicated that the Yankees are considering Greg for promotion, helping mitigate fatigue for the rest of the bullpen as the Yankees quickly approach the playoffs. Against the Oakland Athletics, a less than adequate opponent, Weissert could feature as a relief arm and build some confidence against a weak lineup.
For the time being, the Yankees seem to be giving Marinaccio some of the more high-leverage situational matchups. In addition, Lou Trivino has been fantastic for the Yankees since joining at the trade deadline in the Frankie Montas deal.
Trivino features a 1.00 ERA over nine innings since the deadline. He’s posted at 84.6% left on base rate and 53.8% ground ball rate, not giving up a homer up to this point. His numbers with Oakland were quite bad, featuring a 6.47 ERA, but clearly, the Yankees have figured out a way to extrapolate on his talents.
Notably, Trivino is relying more on his sinker and slider, seeing a steep drop-off in usage with his 4-seam fastball.
Looking back at Weissert, he features a lethal sweeping slider that is MLB-ready. Given his numbers this year at the Triple-A level, the Yankees could have once again struck gold with their esteemed pitching development program.