The bullpen will be an interesting group to monitor for the Yankees this winter as they have three key players who may depart in free agency with Clay Holmes, Tim Hill, and Tommy Kahnle. While the Yankees don’t usually splurge on relievers, they could be in the market for some arms with the potential to improve in 2025. Austin Voth, whom the Seattle Mariners designated for assignment this past weekend, strikes me as the perfect candidate for Brian Cashman to go out and sign to a cheap prove-it deal.
After striking out 61 batters in 68 appearances with a 3.69 ERA, Voth displayed an impressive pitch mix that can miss bats and potentially provide some multi-inning outings thanks to his background as a starting pitcher.
Why Austin Voth Might Be a Breakout Candidate in 2025
The Seattle Mariners helped Austin Voth have his best season at the Major League level in 2024 as he posted a 3.69 ERA and struck out 24.6% of batters faced, but I believe his run prevention wasn’t as good as it likely should have been. Voth mixes in all four of his pitches well, featuring a cutter, four-seamer, sweeper, and curveball, as all four pitches generated a Whiff% of at least 25% and an xwOBA no higher than .312.
While he doesn’t have overwhelming velocity, he has excellent movement on all his pitches with outlier release points that help everything play up. His 37° Arm Angle indicates a lower-slot release that can create flat angles for his fastball and cutter as they cross the plate, which hitters have a hard time getting on top of and often pop up or whiff against. He also has wide-release heights that allow his slider and curveball to appear sharper when crossing the plate.
It’s hard to overlook the incredible underlying data for Austin Voth, who both suppressed damage contact at an elite clip and racked up tons of whiffs, a combination of traits that usually result in an upper-echelon reliever.
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An elite bat-misser who does an excellent job limiting damage contact, it was weird to still see Austin Voth allowing home runs at a high clip. When looking into his batted ball numbers, while batters aren’t crushing the ball, they’re getting plenty of opportunities to elevate the ball and generate ideal launch angles. Being a flyball pitcher isn’t a bad thing, but having a high line drive rate allowed and a low pop-up rate allowed indicates that hitters are consistently getting good swings off when they make contact.
Add on a 50.6% Pull% against and suddenly you have a pitcher who both allows lots of line drives and flyballs to the pull side, a dangerous combination that would explain the high HR/9 rates. If the Yankees can help Austin Voth avoid allowing so much pull-side contact in the air, it could eliminate the flaw that held him back most this past season. He likely will always be a pitcher who allows a good amount of pulled batted balls because he lacks something with movement inside to righties and away from lefties, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be a productive pitcher.
If the Yankees wanted to get even more creative, they could sign Austin Voth and allow him to potentially win a starter job out of Spring Training if they choose to deal out of their rotation this winter.
The Yankees Could Make Austin Voth a Starter Again
Austin Voth came up with the Washington Nationals as a starting pitcher but moved to the bullpen because he lacked much success in the rotation. With a more fleshed-out pitch mix and better stuff, he could be a good candidate to move back into the starting rotation this upcoming season. While the Yankees don’t have to use him as a starter, building him up for that could give him more utility and provide the team with more depth in the rotation or a multi-inning bullpen arm.
Teams have become more and more aggressive moving pitchers from the bullpen to the rotation in recent years, and the pitch mix that Austin Voth has is varied enough for him to get both lefties and righties out. It’s a far-fetched idea, but I wouldn’t be shocked if a team tries it and at least lets him compete for a rotation job out of camp. The Yankees have been rumored to try and trade for a bat this winter and have shown interest in signing a low-cost starting pitcher as well, with Walker Buehler being among the pitchers they’ve been linked to.
If they sign Juan Soto, they won’t have a ton of cash to spend on their rotation especially since first base and even second base might be seen as bigger holes on the roster. Even if Voth fails to make the rotation out of camp, the Yankees have had a great track record converting those pitchers into multi-inning relief weapons.
While he ended up becoming the team closer, Luke Weaver was in the mix for the fifth starter job out of camp, and I’d argue his pitch mix was less complete than Austin Voth’s. I don’t think that we’ll see the same kind of leap, but Michael King was another reliever who saw that massive step forward as a reliever in that multi-inning role. Perhaps the Yankees can find something that can allow Voth to pitch up to his underlying metrics.
He misses bats, gets chases, and limits damage contact; those are usually the qualities of a pitcher who should have tons of success at the Major League level. Maybe he ends up being a dud and the impressive underlying metrics end up being a blip in the radar, but it’s an excellent flier worth taking for a player who the Mariners cut for free. The Yankees are excellent with pitchers, especially relievers, and perhaps this could be another home run signing for them.