September 14th, 2021: Torres, Schmidt, Urshela, Chapman, Prospects

God bless the Minnesota Twins. The Yankees mounted their biggest comeback of the season yesterday -- they’re now 1-35 when they trail by at least four runs this year -- and starting tonight they’ll play nine straight games against the Orioles, Cleveland, and the Rangers. Three teams that are a combined 91 games under .500. The Yankees then finish the season with a nine-game gauntlet against the Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Rays. They're on pace to go 90-72 with 18 games remaining, and figure they need to go 12-6 in those 18 games to get to 92 wins and secure a postseason spot. To today’s thoughts.

1. Gleyber back to second. The Yankees have rearranged their infield in the middle of a postseason race. Gleyber Torres moved back to second base yesterday and Aaron Boone all but confirmed it is permanent. They’ll go with Gio Urshela at shortstop and DJ LeMahieu at third base the rest of the season, then presumably find a new shortstop over the winter.

"I think it could be (permanent) right now," Boone said (video). "Talked a little bit with Gleyber a little earlier in the season when I was considering it. Talked to him today and he feels ready to go there. Hopefully that's something that gives us the best look and sparks us a little bit."

Yesterday was Gleyber’s first game at second since the 2019 postseason and LeMahieu’s first game at third since before his triceps began acting up last month. The Yankees didn’t play Rougned Odor at third all those weeks because they consider him a better defender than LeMahieu. He was there because they didn’t want LeMahieu making long throws.

Torres has played shortstop poorly the last two years, there’s no denying that, though the Yankees are downgrading at second and third to upgrade at short for three weeks. Torres is an inferior defender to LeMahieu and LeMahieu is an inferior defender to Urshela (at third). As long as the gains at short outweigh the hits at second and third, it'll be worth it. I'm not sure three weeks will be enough time to tell whether it was worth it, but it's happening.

Gleyber’s issues with routine plays will follow him at second base because we saw them there in 2018 and 2019. It’s easier to hide bad second base defense with the shift than it is to hide bad shortstop defense. Will that be enough to make a difference? Like a meaningful difference in a postseason race? The Yankees seem to think so. Who am I to argue?

Why did the Yankees wait until Sept. 13th -- 143 games into the season! -- to make this move? Beats me, though they haven’t acted with much urgency lately, so this fits. We know they weren't sold on Torres at short at the trade deadline because they made a run at Trevor Story, yet here we are, six weeks later, and just now are they moving Torres to second. I dunno, man. (To be fair, Torres missed three of those weeks with an injury.)

“The past week he’s struggled out there and it’s definitely weighed on him,” Boone told Dan Martin. “I think sometimes it becomes such a story -- one play becomes a narrative for a long time -- and at times, it’s been really unfair. There have been large chunks when he’s had really steady play.”

Torres went 4-for-12 with a double and a homer during the Mets series and had great at-bats throughout, and he hit .304/.343/.489 (124 wRC+) the month before the thumb injury. If he finishes the year strong, we’ll hear that it was the move to second that fixed his bat. Take it to the bank. It is the laziest narrative and laziness usually prevails.

(For the record, Torres is a career .267/.325/.466 (111 wRC+) hitter at second base and a .269/.344/.451 (114 wRC+) hitter at shortstop.)

Here’s my tepid take: putting Giancarlo Stanton in the outfield and Luke Voit at DH full-time will help more than the new-look infield. This isn't an either/or situation though. The Yankees can do both, and they have rearranged the infield. Hopefully it helps, and hopefully they go with the Stanton/Voit lineup as well for maximum benefit. There's three weeks left and the Yankees are fighting for a postseason spot. Time to put the pedal to the metal.

Ultimately, none of this matters much unless LeMahieu, Torres, and Urshela (all three of them) hit like they’re expected to hit. They’re hitting a combined .259/.325/.369 this year after hitting .307/.363/.521 from 2019-20, and while it’s too late to salvage their seasons completely, it’s not too late to make an impact on the postseason race. Rearranging the infield is a drastic step at this point in the year, and infield defense is only a small part of the problem.

Hopefully this all works and the Yankees look like geniuses. If Gleyber mashes and it’s credited to the position change, who cares. As long as he hits and helps the Yankees win, I don’t care at this point. I feel like the Yankees are constantly a step behind these days though. On the field, with their decision making, everything. Rearranging the infield with three weeks to go is more of the same.

2. Weekend observations. The Yankees have lost 10.5 games on the Blue Jays in the last 17 days even while playing most of their games against the Angels, Orioles, and Mets. Not exactly powerhouse competition, you know? Losing those three series is rough. Gotta beat the teams you're supposed to beat in a postseason race.

“For us as a whole, the goal is to win as many games as possible,” Gary Sanchez told Bryan Hoch following yesterday’s win. "We find ourselves to be here in this stretch, and that’s the mentality: focus on each game at a time and try to win as many as we can.”

There are worse fates than giving the ball to Gerrit Cole in the winner-take-all Wild Card Game. Can the Yankees make a deep postseason run after that? I have my doubts. The offense is hit or miss (sometimes literally) and I’m not sure there's a single reliever in the bullpen who can be counted on to provide a scoreless inning right now. The Yankees are up against it. Some thoughts on the last few games.

Schmidt and a tired pitching staff

Clarke Schmidt made his 2021 MLB debut over the weekend (his first career MLB appearance with fans!) and it didn’t go great. No, his defense didn’t help him, but Schmidt was wild all night, he generated only seven swings and misses among 90 pitches, and he threw a first pitch strike to only 13 of 25 batters. The curveball Francisco Lindor hit out was a capital-H Hanger.

“I think a little bit in the first two innings I kinda let the adrenaline -- sometimes I have to channel it a bit better -- I wasn’t executing the pitches I wanted to execute early on,” Schmidt said (video link). “... It was one of those days where it’s just like, you don’t have your best stuff, and I was just trying to grind through the outing and keep my team in the game.”

Schmidt is a huge spin rate guy and I was curious to see where he sat in the post-sticky stuff era. His four-seamer and sinker were the same as last year (about 2,400 rpm), though his curveball was down quite a bit, from over 3,000 rpm (!) last year to roughly 2,800 rpm this year. His best curve was 2,964 rpm (this one). Also, Schmidt’s velocity dipped in the middle innings, which isn't surprising for a guy who wasn't fully built up in Triple-A.

Not much you can take from 4.1 innings, especially when the guy is coming back from a pretty serious elbow injury and was presumably amped up. Schmidt’s stuff is very lively. Will he ever command it consistently and miss as many bats as you’d expect? I hope so. Sunday’s start won’t sway my opinion one way or the other. Too many mitigating factors.

The larger issue right now is the entire pitching staff is running on fumes. The starters, the relievers, everyone. That’s not unusual this time of year, though the Yankees can’t really afford it at the moment. Five times a Yankees starter has completed five innings this month. Five.

• Sept. 13th: Luis Gil vs. Twins (six innings)
• Sept. 9th: Nestor Cortes vs. Blue Jays (six innings)
• Sept. 6th: Jameson Taillon vs. Blue Jays (seven innings)
• Sept. 3rd: Nestor Cortes vs. Orioles (5.1 innings)
• Sept. 1st: Gerrit Cole vs. Angels (seven innings)

Cole’s injury likely took away a fifth start of at least five innings, but only five times in 12 games this month has the starter completed five innings. And it’s not like the short starts are by design either. Jordan Montgomery has completed five innings just twice in his last five starts. Corey Kluber hasn’t thrown more than four innings in any of his three starts back.

Chad Green looks completely fried to me. The tank is empty. He’s likely to set new career highs in appearances and innings before the end of the weekend, and that’s after the bizarre 60-game season a year ago. As great as he’s been overall as a Yankee, Green has given up far too many back-breaking home runs this year. I think fatigue at least plays a part in that. Either way, it’s difficult to trust him in a close game right now.

The entire pitching staff looks worn down from carrying an underperforming offense all year. The Yankees rarely play blowouts and only 39% of the batters their pitchers have faced this season have been in low leverage situations. The MLB average is 45%. It’s been nothing but stressful innings all year and it seems to be catching up to everyone as the season winds down*.

* The Yankees have allowed at least five runs in each of their last nine games. It’s the first time they’ve done that since July 2019 and it’s tied for the second longest such streak in team history (they had a 10-gamer in 1926). They’ve allowed at least six runs eight times in their last nine games as well.

Cole returns tonight and he might be the single most important player in baseball these final few weeks given where the Yankees are in the race, and how much they count on him to win games and soak up innings to spare the bullpen. Maybe Taillon and Jonathan Loaisiga return at some point, and maybe Domingo German and Luis Severino make it back as well. Fingers crossed.

Starting Schmidt in a nationally broadcast (and very important!) game after only 27.1 minor league innings following a serious elbow injury says more about the Yankees having to dig deep into their pitching reserves than it does Schmidt’s readiness to contribute. The staff is tired and their options are limited. Hopefully a few guys get a second wind soon. If not, navigating these last few weeks will be tough.

Gio’s swoon

Bad, weird season for Gio Urshela, who is 5-for-47 (.106) with 16 strikeouts since coming off the injured list. He’s hitting .254/.291/.401 (88 wRC+) with 11 homers overall, and he hasn’t hit a home run since the last series against the Mets way back in early July. Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu are getting most of the heat for their down years, but Urshela is right there with them.

“Just a little bit in-between,” Aaron Boone told Zach Braziller over the weekend. “He’s been behind the fastball a little bit. He’s chased and out in front of some breaking balls. That can happen where your timing is not there yet and that’s what he’s got to be able to find right now.”

The good news: Urshela is still stinging the ball when he does make contact. This isn’t a Torres situation where his ability to hit the ball hard has gone in the tank. Gio’s barrel rate (7.8%), max exit velocity (110.4 mph), and hard-hit rate (42.4%) this year are all right in line with 2019-20 (7.0%, 113.3 mph, and 41.3%, respectively).

The bad news: Urshela isn’t making contact as often, and the contact he does make tends to be on the ground. His strikeout rate (26.0%) is higher than Aaron Judge’s (25.4%), and his 11.6 percentage point increase in strikeout rate from last season is the largest in baseball. His swinging strike rate has jumped from 10.7% the last two years to 12.9% this year.

Blame plate indiscipline for the uptick in swings and misses and strikeouts. Against pitches in the zone, Gio is swinging and making contact at roughly the same rate as the last two years. Against pitches out of the zone though, we're seeing a lot of this lately (video link):

That pitch was never a strike out of the pitcher’s hand. I know the hitter has to protect with two strikes, but good gravy, that should -- should -- have been an easy pitch to take. Yes, I know that’s easy to say as someone watching on television rather than standing in the box. From where I sit, that looked like Gio getting himself out on a waste pitch.

Urshela has always been a bit of a hacker, but what made it work was his ability to get the bat on the ball against those outside pitches, and either put them in play or foul them off to extend the at-bat. This year his contact rate on pitches out of the zone has completely tanked. That bad ball hitter ability is gone. “It’s been a little bit difficult, but I’m still trying to get that rhythm and timing,” Urshela told Braziller.

As for the ground balls, Urshela has gone from 41.1% the last two years to 46.7% this year. The 5.9 percentage point increase is a top 15 mark in baseball. Gio ranks among the MLB leaders in strikeout rate, swinging strike rate, and ground ball rate increases since last year. Yikes. It’s no wonder his production has slipped. Less contact overall and more unproductive ground balls.

Gio is not the only Yankee to experience an uptick in ground balls this season. It’s a team-wide epidemic. The strikeout and chase rate increases are pretty much limited to Urshela, however. That’s a him problem. So the question now is did the league figure Gio out? Has the clock struck midnight on the late bloomer? Or is he just having a down year on a team having a down year?

I lean toward the latter, that this is a good player having a down year. DJ LeMahieu’s age and the fact that his 2021 looks a lot like his time prior to joining the Yankees worries me. Torres having basically zero ability to drive the ball worries me. Gio losing the ability to spoil pitcher’s pitchers and get the bail airborne are red flags but not yet reasons to sound the alarm, I don't think. It’s an approach issue more than a question of physical ability.

Urshela was hitting .273/.314/.438 (105 wRC+) in over 300 plate appearances even before the hamstring injury, well below his .310/.358/.523 (132 wRC+) line the last two years. His HR/FB rate has slipped a bit (16.7% to 13.9%), so this isn’t a case of the rocket ball supplying all the power. Gio’s contact is still good. There’s just less of it now, and more of it is on the ground.

(That bunt attempt yesterday was so bad lol. Urshela looked like a guy who hasn’t laid down a successful sacrifice bunt since 2018 because guess what? He hasn’t laid down a successful sacrifice bunt since 2018. Boone said the Yankees gave Urshela the bunt sign through 0-2, and the third bunt attempt was all Gio. Just swing the bat, please.)

Chapman’s un-adjustment

Aroldis Chapman has already ditched the “stand up straight” adjustment. I mentioned it two weeks ago after the West Coast road trip. Here’s Chapman during the trip:

That’s Atlanta on the left, Oakland in the middle, and Anaheim on the right. Chapman and Boone said he made the adjustment to stand up taller at the beginning of his delivery to get more on line with the plate, and help his location. It sounded smart to me, but what do I know?

Well, standing upright is gone now. Chapman had messy outings against the Orioles and Blue Jays during the homestand, and stressful (but not truly awful, I’d say) outings against the Mets and Twins. Here’s Chapman the last few times out:

That’s the O’s series on the left, the Blue Jays series in the middle, and the Mets series on the right. Chapman was upright during the Orioles and Blue Jays games and hunched back over against the Mets (and Twins). Seems like he had some success with it on the West Coast, then had some problems again at home, so he ditched it and went back to what’s comfortable.

I don’t have much more to say about this. I noticed it over the weekend and figured I’d mention it. Chapman and the Yankees are making adjustments and trying to figure this out, but nothing has really clicked yet. There’s only three weeks left in the regular season. It would be nice to get Chapman going a) to help for the postseason push, and b) to make everyone feel better about him going into the offseason. No one wants this cloud hovering over the winter.

(The Yankees had Lucas Luetge warming two pitches into Chapman’s outing yesterday. They have such a short leash with him, and yet they keep using him in high leverage situations. I also don’t know what else they’re supposed to do at this point. Just about everyone else in the bullpen has been shaky -- Clay Holmes can't pitch every inning -- and Chapman at least gives you a chance at greatness.)

More trash talk gone wrong

When was the last time the Yankees got into a trash talk war and didn’t get clowned? I honestly can’t remember. The Red Sox played New York, New York in the clubhouse during their march to the 2018 World Series title, and more recently, Jose Altuve and the Astros got the last laugh following Judge’s whole “it’s pretty chilly” thing in Houston.

Over the weekend the Yankees again came out on the wrong end of a trash talk war, this time with the Mets. The short version*: Taijuan Walker was tipping his pitches Saturday and the Mets thought the Yankees were whistling from the dugout to alert the hitter, all of which is legal! It might get you a pitch in the ribs, but dugouts pick up on pitchers tipping all the time. It’s all good as long as you don’t use hidden cameras and televisions and whatnot.

* This is all speculative, I should note. The Yankees deny whistling and the Mets deny thinking the Yankees had picked up Walker's tip. The Mets didn't file an official report with MLB though, so this is all a bunch of nothing now.

The Mets didn’t like it, so Francisco Lindor made a whistling motion toward the Yankees dugout when he rounded the bases on his second home run Saturday. Giancarlo Stanton responded by saying something to Lindor as he rounded the bases on his game-tying home run a few innings later, and the benches cleared. Brett Gardner even gave the Mets the thumbs down.

Anyway, Lindor and the Mets got the last laugh when he hit the game-winning home run in the eighth inning, his third homer of the game. The game of course came down to Stanton, who was chasing everything and swinging out of his shoes with the tying run at third base in the ninth …

… and eventually popped up to end the game. To Lindor, of course. Once again the Yankees had to leave the field with their tail between their legs while the other team celebrated a win and dunking on the Yankees. This is getting tired. "You guys saw Lindor when he went around the bases. We gave a little bit back. Boys will be boys,” Boone told Bryan Hoch.

I am all for trash talk and pettiness. As long as it doesn’t devolve into pitchers throwing at guys, let’s do it. This is the entertainment business. Entertain me. The Yankees come out on the wrong end of these silly confrontations too many times though. They’re the Yankees, the biggest baddest team in the game, but they haven’t backed up the talk with their play on the field in eons. It sucks.

Team meetings

The Yankees are going to lead baseball in double plays and team meetings this year. As Ozzie Guillen once said, “good teams win games, bad teams have meetings,” and the Yankees have held at least four team meetings this season:

• April 16th: Team meeting after an 8-2 loss to the Rays, then the Yankees lost the next two games to get swept.
• June 29th: Team meeting before an 11-5 win over the Angels, then the Yankees lost the next three games.
• Sept. 9th: Team meeting after the four-game sweep by Blue Jays, then the Yankees lost the next game to the Mets (and played embarrassingly).
• Sept. 10th: Team meeting after the ugly loss to the Mets, then the Yankees won the next game before losing the game after that (and getting dunked on Saturday).

“Any time you’re going through a tough stretch, sometimes guys feel sorry for themselves. Sometimes it’s tough to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Gardner said about the most recent team meeting. “One of those things, where it’s just kind of enough’s enough. A couple of people had some things to say. I thought it went well and maybe it worked. We won today, so hopefully we’ll go on a winning streak.

Judge told Hoch that Kyle Higashioka, Corey Kluber, and Andrew Velazquez spoke during the most recent team meeting. That’s quite the collection of players, huh? Two backups and a decorated veteran who I’m pretty sure needs to be plugged in between starts because he’s so robot-like. But hey, it’s about the message, not the messenger.

I’m sure team meetings have their uses, but by and large, they create a good narrative and not much else. Smart teams know you hold the meeting right before your ace starts so he can validate it. Those four team meetings were held before two Montgomery starts, one Taillon start, and one Kluber start. Come on guys, Cole is right there!

If the Yankees feel they need a team meeting after every loss to get things right and make the postseason, then whatever, do it. They’re a placebo more than a magic elixir though. We have basically the entirety of baseball history to tell us that. Team meetings are a good talking point for the media and they show The Team Cares. In the end, it’s up to the talent to perform.

3. Prospect thoughts. The minor league season is beginning to wind down and Double-A Somerset, High-A Hudson Valley, and Low-A Tampa are all in first place and in position to go to the postseason. There won't be a Triple-A postseason this year (they're just playing more regular season games so every team makes a little more money after the lost season a year ago) and I'm not sure what they're doing in the rookie Florida Complex League yet, but the Yankees are in first place there too. Pretty great year in the farm system. Here are a few thoughts on a few prospects.

Dominguez’s recent surge

So Jasson Dominguez won’t have a transcendent Wander Franco/Vlad Guerrero Jr. type of pro debut. Most players don’t. Dominguez has had himself a strong first season though, hitting .262/.345/.407 (105 wRC+) with five homers in 45 Low-A games as the youngest position player in a full season minor league. We can neatly split Jasson’s Low-A season into two halves:

• First 23 games: .242/.297/.374 (78 wRC+) with 6.9 BB% and 33.7 K%
• Last 22 games: .284/.396/.444 (134 wRC+) with 12.5 BB% and 28.1 K%

At one point earlier this monthDominguez went 16 plate appearances between strikeouts, and struck out only twice in a 26-plate appearance span. His plate coverage is pretty good too. Look at this recent golf shot home run (in an 0-2 count, no less) (video via @MLBPipeline):

All things considered, an 18-year-old having a (slightly) better than league average half-season in Low-A following a lost pandemic season is pretty damn good. Dominguez really should be at an advanced short season league (like Pulaski or Staten Island), but those don’t exist anymore, so Low-A it is, and he’s handled the aggressive assignment well.

The recent surge is encouraging -- Dominguez went through the league, adjusted, and is now having success -- and it sets Dominguez up to begin next season with High-A, I believe. Maybe the Yankees will hold him back in Tampa until the weather warms up, but I think he’ll spend most of next year with High-A Hudson Valley. As a 19-year-old, no less. Not an amazing year, but pretty good once you consider the pandemic weirdness.

Wells’ debut season

It’s been easy to overlook given Dominguez’s debut and Anthony Volpe’s breakout, but 2020 first rounder Austin Wells is having himself a fine pro debut. The just turned 22-year-old (Wells was a draft-eligible sophomore and thus a year younger than the typical college kid) was moved up to High-A about a month ago and he’s mostly held his performance (some video):

The walk and strikeout rates are at least partly a function of the automated strike zone. They’re using it in Low-A but not High-A, and just about everyone has seen their walk rate slip and their strikeout rate jump following a promotion. Volpe went from 19.8% walks and 16.7% strikeouts in Low-A to 9.7% walks and 22.0% strikeouts in High-A, for example. The league averages:

• Low-A: 12.4% walks and 26.6% strikeouts
• High-A: 9.6% walks and 26.8% strikeouts

It makes sense that a young hitter would walk less and strike out more after being moved up a level simply because he’s facing more advanced pitching. The automated strike zone throws a bit of a wrench into the Low-A to High-A move this year. It’s something that must be considered when looking at Wells’ walk and strikeout numbers at each level.

Anyway, Wells showed strong exit velocity while in Low-A (maxed out at 109.9 mph), and he’s been better against lefties (.277/.444/.468) than righties (.254/.386/.481), which is nice. As a left-handed hitter, Wells has not been helpless against same-side pitchers. Walk and strikeout weirdness aside, Wells is doing pretty much what I expected him to do in his first pro season.

I haven’t been able to dig up a reliable update on Wells defensively. He’s thrown out only 10 of 78 base stealers this year, or 13%, but MLB is testing rules that encourage steals at both Single-A levels. Pickoff throws are limited in Low-A and the pitcher must completely step off to make a pickoff throw in High-A. Wells himself is 14-for-14 stealing bases this year, so yeah. We can’t trust stolen base numbers at those levels this year. The rule changes favor the runner so much.

Until I hear otherwise, I assume the defensive scouting report on Wells is the same. He’s rough around the edges blocking and framing, but works hard at it and is very athletic for the position. Wells would definitely benefit from the automated strike zone defensively. Either way, he’s a bat first guy, and the bat is playing this year. Wells is in position to begin next year at Double-A.

Wesneski’s strikeout spike

Coming into the season right-hander and 2019 sixth round pick Hayden Wesneski was part of a group of interesting but not quite fully formed pitching prospects, alongside guys like Randy Vasquez and Ken Waldichuk. Wesneski hasn’t been as good as those two this year, statistically, though he’s made the leap from interesting to legitimate prospect nonetheless.

Over the weekend Wesneski struck out 14 in a seven-inning one-hitter (it was a complete game in a doubleheader), one start after fanning 10 in six innings. Those are his two highest strikeout totals of the season. The 23-year-old has a 4.38 ERA (4.21 FIP) in 14 Double-A starts. It was a 7.56 ERA (6.07 FIP) in his first five starts and a 2.82 ERA (3.30 FIP) in his last nine starts.

Wesneski had a 22.0% strikeout rate in Double-A priority to the strikeout binge in his last two starts and he told Matt Kardos he attributes it to his slider turning the corner, and an improved slider is what helped Janson Junk and Glenn Otto break out this year. Here is one cherry-picked slider from the 14-strikeout game (Lucas Apostoleris has video of all 14 strikeouts):

MLB.com’s scouting report says Wesneski also works with mid-90s two and four-seamers -- he was primarily a two-seamer guy in college and the Yankees helped him add the four-seamer -- and an improving changeup. His “ability to control his fastball despite its well-above-average movement” is considered a plus as well. Four-pitch guy who throws strikes. Neat.

Before the season I heard Wesneski had a starter’s arsenal and control but a reliever’s delivery, and you can see it in the GIF. There’s some effort there and it’s not the most fluid delivery you’ll see. And you know what? Who cares? These days teams would rather a guy go max effort and dominate for 3-4 innings than pace himself and be less effective for 5-6 innings.

Like Waldichuk, Wesneski started the year in High-A and was utterly dominant (1.49 ERA and 2.73 FIP with 47 strikeouts and nine walks in 36.1 innings), though Double-A has been a little more of a challenge. And that’s fine. Guys move up a level, get humbled a bit, then adjust and keep working to get better. That’s pretty normal prospect development.

Right now Wesneski doesn’t have the putaway pitch to be considered a potential impact guy, though perhaps the last two starts are an indication the slider is becoming that out pitch. Until that happens, Wesneski is more David Phelps than Luis Severino, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Teams needs David Phelpses and that would be a good outcome for a sixth round pick and a $217,500 bonus.

4. Remembering a random Yankee: Chris Bootcheck. By request, this week’s random Yankee is a member of the exclusive “pitched exactly one game as a Yankee” club. Here’s the random Yankee archive. You can find links back to everyone we've covered there.

Bootcheck grew up in Indiana, not too far from Chicago, and was good enough to be recruited by Auburn (he was a 17th round pick out of high school in 1997). He had a good junior year with the Tigers and Baseball America (subs. req’d) said Bootcheck was considered among the best college players in the 2000 draft class. A snippet of their pre-draft scouting report:

Bootcheck surfaced in early May as a favorite to be the first college player drafted. The teams picking in the top five or six positions began having uneasy feelings about him as he didn't consistently dominate anybody--though he was 9-0, 3.42 on the season. They also questioned his makeup, wondering if he's tough enough to stand up to the challenge of being a No. 1 or 2 starter.

Ouch! The Angels selected Bootcheck with the No. 20 pick that year -- the No. 20 pick was the Athletics’ first round pick, which Anaheim received as compensation when Oakland signed free agent lefty Mike Magnante -- and paid him a hefty $1.8M bonus. That was back when top five picks received something in the $2M to $3M range each year.

Bootcheck wasn’t dominant in the minors (4.38 ERA in 468.2 innings from 2001-03), though he had draft pedigree and threw a ton of innings, and he made his MLB debut as a Sept. call up in 2003. He made one start and three long relief appearances, allowing 13 runs in 10.1 innings for the defending World Series champion Angels.

From 2004-06, Bootcheck was an up and down arm who surrendered 19 runs in 29 big league innings and had a 5.60 ERA in 339.1 Triple-A innings. The Angels moved him to the bullpen in 2006 (Bootcheck hurt his hamstring running onto the field during a benches-clearing brawl that year) and he had his only full MLB season in 2007, throwing 77.1 innings with a 4.77 ERA.

Bootcheck pitched poorly to begin 2008 (18 runs in 16 innings) and wound up getting dropped from the 40-man roster at midseason. He spent the rest of the year in Triple-A with the Angels, then bounced to the Pirates in 2009, the Yokohama BayStars in Japan in 2010, the Lotte Giants in Korea in 2011, and the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate in 2012.

The Yankees signed Bootcheck, then 34, to a minor league contract in March 2013 and didn’t even invite him to big league Spring Training. They sent him to minor league camp -- we didn’t know the Yankees signed Bootcheck until his name popped up in a minor league workout group that spring -- and then sent him to Triple-A Scranton to begin the regular season.

With Scranton, Bootcheck was the veteran innings guy in a rotation that included two prospects (Brett Marshall and pre-bullpen Dellin Betances), one out of nowhere guy (Vidal Nuno), and one feel-good reclamation project (Chien-Ming Wang). He allowed five runs total in his first six starts before crashing back to Earth, and posted a 3.32 ERA in his first 11 starts and 62.1 innings.

The 2013 Yankees were comically mediocre, and on June 13th, they lost an 18-inning game to the Athletics that inspired one of my more popular rants at RAB. I’m glad I’ve mellowed with age and I don’t let baseball anger me that much anymore (though the 2021 Yankees sure are testing my limits). That game in Oakland was one of the least enjoyable games I can remember.

Anyway, Adam Warren threw 85 pitches and soaked up six scoreless innings in the 18-inning game, which meant a trip to the minors for a fresh arm the next day. Bootcheck was that fresh arm. “I accept it but it’s frustrating. No one wants to get sent down, but I understand the logic behind it,” Warren told David Waldstein after being demoted.

Because the bullpen was shot, Andy Pettitte had to wear it for seven innings against the Angels the next day. He allowed four runs on 11 hits, and seven of the final 12 batters he faced reached base. Bootcheck made his Yankees debut in the eighth inning, against his former team, and he didn’t exactly impress. He faced seven batters:

• Alberto Callaspo walked on eight pitches.
• Chris Iannetta singled after a seven-pitch at-bat.
• Erick Aybar struck out on four pitches.
• Peter Bourjos grounded into a first pitch fielder’s choice (Aybar out at home).
• Mike Trout drove in Iannetta with a first pitch single to center.
• Josh Hamilton walked on eight pitches.
• Albert Pujols popped up on the first pitch to end the inning.

One run on two hits and a walk in the 30-pitch inning. Here’s the video. With the Yankees down 5-2 following Trout’s single, then-manager Joe Girardi never warmed up another reliever. It was Bootcheck’s inning no matter how bad things got. It was also Bootcheck’s first MLB appearance in over three years (since Oct. 3rd, 2009), and it proved to be his final MLB appearance.

Bootcheck spent the next three days sitting in the bullpen unused. On June 18th, he was designated for assignment as part of a series of roster moves. Mark Teixeira went on the injured list, allowing the Yankees to bring Warren back, and Bootcheck was dropped from the roster in favor of Zoilo Almonte. Four days on the roster, one appearance, 30 pitches.

“Want to thank the Yankees organization for giving me an opportunity to play when no one else would, and the reward of seeing the bright lights again,” Bootcheck tweeted after being dropped from the roster (translated from Twitter speak). He cleared waivers and elected free agency on June 22nd, but the Yankees quickly re-signed him to a new minor league contract the next day.

“I talked to my agent. The Yankees want me back,” Bootcheck told Jim Peters. “I have a sweetened deal with the Yankees. I still have an opt-out. If the opportunity presents itself, there’s interest somewhere else, I can go. The Yankees have taken care of me. I’m happy with the way things have gone. To me, I have some history here now with this organization.”

Bootcheck spent the rest of the season with Triple-A Scranton and finished the year with a 3.69 ERA in 136.2 innings. He is one of 47 players who has made exactly one pitching appearance with the Yankees (not counting position players), and the list is funny because nowadays there’s a few of these guys each year. In the past the Yankees would go years between one appearance pitchers (none from 1990-2000!). That’s modern pitching usage for you.

Following the 2013 season, Bootcheck became a free agent, and he spent 2014 in the minors with the Phillies. That didn’t go so well (5.17 ERA in 78.1 innings), and Bootcheck hung up his spikes after the season. He retired with a 6.55 ERA in 148.1 big league innings and is now the pitching coach at Georgia State.

5. Rapid fire thoughts. Just a few quick roster moves to note. Jonathan Davis (for Sal Romano) and Romano (for Mike King) were both dropped from the 40-man roster over the weekend, and cleared waivers. Davis is still with the Yankees in Triple-A and available if he’s needed at some point. Romano elected free agency and is no longer in the organization. Also, the Yankees sent Andrew Velazquez to Triple-A to clear a roster spot for Clarke Schmidt. I thought Velazquez was out of minor league options. Turns out he has two left. Huh. I don’t think that will (or should) save his 40-man roster spot in the offseason, but it does give the Yankees a little more roster flexibility these last few weeks. And finally, Schmidt was sent down following yesterday’s game. Not quite sure what the corresponding move will be today, but Estevan Florial’s 10 days in the minors are up, so it will likely be him until Velazquez's 10 days are up next week. Otherwise I could be another arm. Nick Nelson is the only 40-man guy who is a realistic option (Deivi Garcia started Friday and would be on short rest tonight, and Brooks Kriske is still waiting out his 10 days).

(Send your requests for Tuesday's random Yankee series and questions for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com.)