Breaking: Yankees set to make major improvement to bullpen with free agent signing
If New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman wants velocity, he should look no further than free agent Jordan Hicks, formally of the St. Louis Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays. Hicks is a 27-year-old free agent, a young age for a player who still has substantial upside.
Hicks projects to be one of the more expensive bullpen arms on the market, but his makeup is extremely enticing, especially with a coach like Matt Blake, who could do wonders with his sequence.
According to The Athletic, the Yankees have an interest in Hicks, along with several other teams. Of course, after landing Juan Soto and his estimated $30 million in arbitration, the Yankees will have to allocate financial resources more efficiently. They desperately need another starting pitcher, which could end up being Yoshinobu Yamamoto, or a lesser option where they can spend a bit more at other positions, like Hicks in the bullpen.
Why the Yankees Have Their Eyes on Jordan Hicks
Taking a look at Hicks, who pitched 65.2 innings last season, enjoying a 3.29 ERA, 11.1 strikeouts per nine, a 72.1% left-on-base rate, and a 58.3% ground ball rate. He’s had a few inconsistent seasons, but his fastball touches over 100 mph regularly. He features a sinker, sweeper, four-seam fastball, and dabbles with a change-up. Last season, his sinker produced a .259 batting average, and his sweeper a .136 batting average.
Going from a 100 mph sinker to an 87 mph sweeper certainly causes some deception. His sweeper generates about league-average movement, but Blake may be able to tweak his fundamentals and get more break on his pitches. A sinker at that velocity with 6% more horizontal movement than the average pitcher is incredibly difficult to hit. He can be a bit erratic with his accuracy, but that is expected with that level of velocity. He ranks in the 96th percentile in ground ball percentage and 100th percentile in fastball velocity.
Oddly, his whiff rate is only in the 66th percentile, and he walks too many batters. Some hyper-specific coaching and fundamental tweaks could further improve his arm, but he will be a costly acquisition. The Yankees signed Tommy Kahnle last off-season to a two-year, $11.5 million deal. He had tremendous success finding cost-efficient arms and building them up into productive players. They may prefer to spend more on a starting pitcher and take a cheaper option in the bullpen.
Yankees preparing to get back forgotten high-upside bullpen arm
The New York Yankees have had an impressively strong bullpen over the past few seasons despite minimal investment. They’ve acquired players like Ian Hamilton and Clay Holmes for next to nothing, and thankfully, they were able to keep both despite rumors indicating they could leverage one of them in the Juan Soto trade.
The bullpen projects to be excellent once again in 2024, especially since they’re getting back Scott Effross, a pitcher they acquired from the Chicago Cubs at the 2022 deadline. Effross spent only half a year with the Cubs after pitching 14.2 innings in 2021 before being moved to the Yankees. With the Bombers, he tossed 12.2 innings, hosting a 2.13 ERA and subsequently tearing a ligament in his elbow that required Tommy John surgery.
The Yankees Could Get Great Value Out of Scott Effross
Effross displayed plenty of promise and excitement. The Yankees are preparing to leverage that upside in 2024. With two years of service time and control until the 2028 off-season, Effross can be a tremendous piece moving forward.
In 2022, he ranked in the 94th percentile in off-speed run and the 84th percentile in pitching run value in general. He was just below the great category, also hosting a 94th barrel percentage and 89th percentile chase rate. This is a player that rarely gives up contact and forces a significant amount of swings and misses.
While his velocity is low at best, just barely touching 90 MPH on average with his fastball, he produces a significant amount of break. In fact, his four-seam fastball generates 40% more horizontal movement than the average pitcher, and all of his supplementary pitches above average vertical and horizontal movement. However, it is his arm slot that makes it so deceptive, throwing it at a flat plain with side arm motion.
That submarine style of pitching even more deception on his pitches, which confuses batters and gives him leverage. Of course, it is a very unnatural way to throw a baseball and increases the probability of injury, but he’s working his way back diligently and has been enjoying bullpen sessions the past few months, ramping up ahead of the new year.
The expectation is that Effross will be ready to go for spring training, and his newly reconstructed elbow will be fully operational. At 29 years old, he could have a significant role in the Yankees bullpen, but it will take him some time to get back up to full speed naturally.
In the meantime, the Yankees have plenty of quality arms and have been adding some low-key pieces to the mix in hopes of developing them. I wouldn’t be surprised to see general manager Brian Cashman sign another bullpen arm with some upside to a low-key deal, if not trade for an underrated arm.
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