How Scott Effross became sidearm reliever – and why he picked Tigers

Everything changed for Scott Effross in 2019.

The Chicago Cubs instructed the right-hander to drop his arm slot from a traditional three-quarter delivery amid career-threatening struggles at Double-A. He stepped outside of his comfort zone and embraced the challenge, reinventing himself as a sidearm reliever.

The decision still defines him as he reports to Detroit Tigers spring training after signing a minor-league contract for the 2026 season. The 32-year-old replaces fellow sidearmer Chase Lee, whom the Tigers traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in mid-December.

“The Tigers really made me feel like a priority,” Effross said.

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New York Yankees relief pitcher Scott Effross (57) reacts after defeating the Chicago Cubs 11-0 at Yankee Stadium in New York on July 11, 2025.

The Tigers – led by president of baseball operations Scott Harris and general manager Jeff Greenberg – targeted Effross aggressively in free agency, signing him only a few days after trading Lee and less than a month after he was non-tendered by the New York Yankees.

Effross has longstanding ties to Harris and Greenberg, as well as vice president of baseball strategy Alex Smith. He shares his closest relationship with Smith, who joined the Tigers’ front office in October and played a key role in recruiting the sidearmer to Detroit.

All three executives previously worked for the Cubs, just like Effross.

The Tigers believe Effross can rediscover the success from his breakthrough 2022 season.

“They broke everything down in a great way that let me know we’re trying to chase the success of when I was at my best,” said Effross, who earns $950,000 if he makes the MLB roster, “but how can we work with what I have now to replicate the results of that? I feel like they laid out a great plan for me.”

Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Scott Effross (57) throws a pitch after entering the game in the third inning of the MLB National League game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago Cubs at Great American Ball Park in downtown Cincinnati on Thursday, May 26, 2022. The Reds led 10-3 after three innings.

Back in 2019, Effross bought into the Cubs’ plan to change his arm slot.

The conversation occurred midway through the Double-A season.

After that, Effross scrapped everything and went back to the drawing board with his pitching mechanics. He packed his belongings and traveled to Mesa, Arizona, where the Cubs allowed him to work at his own pace at the spring training facility while learning a sidearm delivery. He developed his new arm slot in bullpens, eventually testing it in live batting practices and games.

The process took a couple of months.

“I was a very standard guy,” said Effross, a 15th-round pick by the Cubs in the 2015 draft out of Indiana. “The goal from this was to add some deception and a different look, giving me the chance to reinvent myself.”

Armed with a new arm slot, Effross reported to High-A Myrtle Beach – one step down from where he had been struggling in Double-A Tennessee – for the remainder of the 2019 season.

He experienced his first taste of sidearm success.

Effross then carried that success into the Arizona Fall League, dominating a hitter-friendly environment filled with top prospects. He allowed just two runs over 10 innings with one walk and nine strikeouts in eight relief appearances.

“I was not a prospect in any capacity,” Effross said. “I remember how honored I was at the time to be invited.”

His on-field momentum came to a halt when the coronavirus pandemic canceled the minor leagues in 2020, but he turned the setback into an opportunity for further development. Although he didn’t pitch in any games, he used bullpens to perfect his sidearm delivery.

“It was a challenging year in a lot of capacities,” Effross said, “but I was thankful for that time to strip away the competitiveness of trying to compete for a job during the season and really focus on my mechanics of what I was doing. Come 2021, I felt like I was in a good spot.”

He made his MLB debut with the Cubs in August 2021.

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Effross parlayed an impressive cameo in 2021 into a career-best performance in 2022, registering a 2.54 ERA with 15 walks and 62 strikeouts across 56⅔ innings in 60 games for the Cubs (47 games) and Yankees (13 games).

“It was my most successful year at the big-league level – and one of those years you want to bottle up and have last for your entire career,” said Effross, shipped from the Cubs to the Yankees at the trade deadline. “Unfortunately, for a lot of different reasons, that hasn’t been the case over the past few years, but I’ve definitely learned a lot about what I was doing well at that time.”

At his best, Effross worked ahead in counts with first-pitch strikes, limited walks to compensate for a lack of strikeouts, trusted his infield defense while inducing weak ground-ball contact and moved his pitches around the strike zone to neutralize left-handed hitters.

His sinker still sits around 89 mph, complemented by a sweeper, changeup and four-seam fastball.

“A right-handed sidearm guy is always going to be an advantage for a left-handed hitter, so what can I do to keep them off balance as much as I can? It’s pitching front to back, moving the ball around the strike zone and playing with different verticals to change eye levels.”

In 2022, Effross felt like he could locate any of his four pitches in the zone.

That’s what he’s trying to replicate with the Tigers in 2026.

“I was very confident in my abilities, really attacking the strike zone and having confidence that my stuff was good enough to get big-league guys out at a high level,” Effross said. “That’s definitely something I want to focus on moving forward into this season.”

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In October 2022, the Yankees didn’t include Effross – one of their top high-leverage relievers – on the ALDS roster because a right elbow injury required Tommy John surgery, forcing him to miss the entire 2023 season. He also underwent back surgery in December 2023, keeping him sidelined for the first three months of the 2024 season.

“It was tough,” Effross said. “I felt like I was going to be a cog of that bullpen in the playoffs in 2022. It was definitely a blow to the end of the year, and it took a little bit of time to get over that.”

His performance dipped in 2024 and 2025.

In 2025, Effross posted an 8.44 ERA with three walks and six strikeouts across 10⅔ innings in 11 games for the Yankees. He also logged a 6.37 ERA over 29⅔ innings in 28 games for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

His next opportunity comes with the Tigers.

He is expected to open the 2026 season with Triple-A Toledo, but as the only sidearm reliever in the mix, he could be among the first bullpen reinforcements called up during the regular season.

For Effross, the arm-slot change that saved his career in 2019 is still opening doors in 2026.

“Seeing how much the bullpen is relied upon, it’s a badge of honor and something I would love to be in the mix for,” Effross said. “I’m super grateful that Scott and Jeff and the rest of the front office staff were so pursuant and made me feel like a priority. I’m really, really excited for the opportunity to prove them right.”

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Scott Effross shares sidearm journey to Detroit Tigers in 2026 season

How Scott Effross became sidearm reliever – and why he picked Tigers

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