With the Yankees bullpen in flames due to injury and some struggles, they’ve opted to shake things up by going to their minor league depth. Closer Greg Weissert is going to get the call, getting his first crack at MLB action in his career.
Drafted in 2016, he was the Yankees’ 18th-round pick out of Fordham right here in New York City. A Long Island Native, Weissert has been in the Yankee organization for 7 years, and after dominating at the Triple-A level, he’s finally getting his shot. He’s posted a 1.76 ERA with a 36.8% K% this season, so let’s see how this could translate to MLB success.
Shaking Off a Slow Start
Greg Weissert’s command has improved dramatically as well, allowing him to finish batters off in counts and execute pitches correctly. His numbers in April and after April are staggering, and they’ve taken him from a wild reliever to a dominant machine in the Scranton bullpen.
April:
- 4.66 ERA
- 4.72 FIP
- 34.1% K%
- 22.0% BB%
- 0.93 HR/9
After April:
- 0.99 ERA
- 2.52 FIP
- 37.6% K%
- 7.1% BB%
- 0.50 HR/9
FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) is a stat that looks at the three outcomes a pitcher can control that is not influenced by team defense; strikeouts, walks, and home runs. When you excel in these three categories, typically, you tend to run a low and stable ERA. Weissert’s walk rate is down 13.9%, and as a result, his ERA has gone down nearly 4 points. He doesn’t give up HRs, he gets a remarkable amount of strikeouts, and this reflects in his FIP. With his numbers being deserving of a call up, let’s take a look at his wipeout stuff.
Greg Weissert’s Nasty Sweeping Slider
Let’s take a look at Greg Weissert’s slider, a pitch that has been absolutely dominant this season.
His sweeping slider is devastating, as Baseball America graded it as the best slider in the organization. It’s a frisbee slider that sweeps and can get a lot of swings and misses, something plenty of Yankee pitchers have adopted across the organization. This pitch is paired with his sinker, which generates a lot of movement in the opposite direction horizontally and sits in the mid-90s.
Overall, his pitches are wicked, and I’m excited to see how it plays at the MLB level. Weissert is going to give a huge boost to a bullpen that desperately needs it, and we’ll see if he makes a case to get October innings.