Yankees sign veteran left-hander to MiLB free agent deal

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According to the Yankees’ transaction page, the team has signed LHP Brandon Leibrandt to a Minor League deal. A 31-year-old southpaw who pitched for the Reds’ organization in 2024, he has a career 5.28 ERA across 15.1 innings with eight strikeouts to nine walks. Averaging 88.9 MPH, he’s a crafty pitcher who relies on a funky changeup to get outs, and with his experience as both a starter and reliever, he serves a purpose as a depth arm who can come up and fill out a 40-man spot whenever the team needs a fresh arm.

Brandon Leibrandt Joins the Yankees on MiLB Contract

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A sixth-round pick out of Florida State by the Philadelphia Phillies back in 2014, Leibrandt has been pitching professionally for quite some time now. Injuries have limited his total body of work, but he’s still found a way to pitch for four different organizations throughout his career, two of which he pitched for in the big leagues.

The left-hander is one of the softer tossers in the professional game, averaging under 89 MPH on his four-seamer this season at Triple-A. His best pitch is by far his changeup, as it plays more as a straight change that batters tend to swing over.

In Triple-A, Leibrandt’s changeup generated a 53.8% Whiff Rate and held batters to a .236 wOBA. His slider, four-seamer, and curveball aren’t standout pitches, and while it’s hard to anticipate a massive uptick in velocity, there are other ways the Yankees improve pitchers.

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The Yankees have the second-highest Stuff+ on sliders in baseball since Matt Blake took over as the team’s pitching coach, which tracks with their reputation as an organization that develops that pitch type well. Perhaps someone like Leibrandt can develop a slider with a better movement profile that can help him get left-handed batters out.

Despite being a soft-tossing lefty, he’s actually better against righties than lefties, and that’s because he lacks a breaking ball with good lateral movement. Leibrandt has a curveball that moves over 11 inches laterally and a slider with mundane vertical and horizontal movement. Slower sliders are better off as sweepers since those large movement profiles can at least neutralize left-handed batters.

Adding a third pitch, one that generates whiffs against left-handers, could be the final piece to his arsenal that allows him to provide more value on the mound with the Yankees.

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