Ryan Yarbrough is a soft contact machine. That is likely one of the reasons why the New York Yankees have stuck with him so deep into the season.
Having both him and Paul Blackburn as long-relief options was a head-scratching decision heading into 2026. Few teams carry two in their bullpen, but you could find some justification in the idea that “every inning counts” during the 162-game season.
Now that the dog days of summer are here, and reinforcements should be headed to the bullpen, there is less reason for him to be on the roster. At some point, the Yankees will need to cut Yarbrough loose.
If Yarbrough is on the roster to eat up innings, the Yankees have two guys in the wings who will soon serve that purpose. Both have a higher ceiling and a stronger future with the club as well.
The two options to replace Yarbrough
The first is rookie Carlos Lagrange, the converted starter who can hit triple digits with regularity. Granted, Lagrange’s timetable may be pushed back a bit if he keeps having outings like the one he had over the weekend, where he allowed five earned runs in 0.2 innings.
New York Yankees pitcher Carlos Lagrange (84) throws a pitch against the Detroit Tigers during the second inning in a Spring Training game at George M. Steinbrenner Field. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Once he has a few scoreless innings under his belt, though, the Yankees are going to bring him up. His stuff is just too tantalizing to keep in the minors.
Even if Lagrange won’t be up in the near future, he isn’t the only multi-inning option that the Yankees can go with. Max Fried has already started throwing, and once he’s back, it seems like Ryan Weathers will be relegated to the bullpen. It makes sense since he is coming off a string of injury-laden seasons, and this is his first full workload in a few years.
Aaron Boone already hinted at Weathers being an option out of the bullpen earlier this month, too. He has had some rough starts in June, but looks to have stabilized himself in his last few starts. That’s including Monday, where Weathers’ defense let him down. Just two of the five runs he gave up were earned. Outside of that blemish, in his last 14 innings, he has struck out 17 and walked just four batters.
New York Yankees starting pitcher Ryan Weathers (40) pitches against the Detroit Tigers during the second inning at Yankee Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
A 77th percentile strikeout rate and 75th percentile walk rate should play in the bullpen. Weathers can also ramp up the velocity if he needs to. He hit triple digits in spring training, and while he hasn’t done that much during the regular season to pace himself during starts, he has hit as high as 98 and 99 mph.
Yarbrough’s future
The Yankees may not need to designate Yarbrough for assignment outright when the time comes. With the way the Wild Card hunt is structured now, there are a bunch of teams still in it that could use his services.
Between the NL and AL, 10 teams are within five games of taking a Wild Card spot. Then you have your six division leaders, as well as the six that do have a Wild Card spot.
Despite an ugly recent run in which he has allowed 8 ER over 12.2 IP, Yarbrough is still the soft-contact king of baseball. Yarbrough has a 99th-percentile average exit velocity, a 97th-percentile barrel rate, and a 99th-percentile hard-hit rate.
Some teams could be intrigued by that. It’s the baseball version of “I can fix him.”
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