May 21st, 2021: Kluber, Voit, Frazier, LaMarre, DeShields, Mailbag

A 7-3 road trip that included a no-hitter? I’ll take that all year long, thank you very much. The offense is still slogging along but the Yankees keep winning series (7-0-2 in their last nine), and that’s all that matters. Just win series and everything will take care of itself. The Yankees are on pace to go 92-70 with 118 games remaining. Here are today’s thoughts.

1. Weekday observations. Eventful last few games, eh? Injuries, a no-hitter, more injuries, and a few injuries after that. Injuries are way up around the league (more on that in today’s mailbag) and the Yankees aren’t immune. Let’s get to a few thoughts on the series in Texas.

Klubot makes history

Last week I noted the Yankees had not thrown a no-hitter since David Cone’s perfect game in 1999, and said if there were ever a pitcher and ever a year to do it, it was Gerrit Cole this year. Got the year right, but the pitcher wrong. Corey Kluber no-hit the Rangers on Wednesday night and he was overcome with emotion after the game:

“I’ve never been part of one, witnessed one, let alone thrown one. So, more than anything, it was a lot of fun to be a part of,” Kluber told Jordan Horrobin after the game. Kyle Higashioka admitted to Ken Davidoff he was “not calm at all … I was doing a lot of hyperventilating on the bench. Luckily Corey didn’t notice.”

Kluber no-hit the Rangers on a night the Rangers gave out his bobblehead*, which is hilarious, and he did it with a third baseman in left field, a shortstop in right field, and a 37-year-old in center field. His curveball was the sharpest we’ve seen it this season and his cutter was really good too. Kluber frontdoored and backdoored both pitches expertly.

* To be fair to the Rangers, it wasn’t actually “Corey Kluber bobblehead night.” Texas is doing mystery bobblehead nights and giving away unused bobbleheads from last year, so everybody in attendance gets a different bobblehead. Kluber was among them Wednesday.

Texas put only two balls in play with better than a 50/50 chance of becoming a hit according to Statcast’s expected batting average metric: this Nate Lowe grounder in the first (.550 xBA) and this Adolis Garcia line drive in the seventh (.850 xBA). The scariest ball in play was David Dahl’s lineout in the ninth, right? It only had a .160 xBA, but it looked headed for the corner off the bat, and the Yankees had an infielder in right. Tyler Wade was able to run it down though.

“Just catch the baseball. That’s about it,” Wade told Dan Martin when asked what went through his mind on the play. “I knew I was gonna catch it. I just didn’t know if I would have to dive. You couldn’t hear anything off the bat because it was so loud.”

Kluber has completely turned his season around following a rough April in which he couldn’t command anything and couldn’t complete five innings. Here are Kluber’s breaking ball location heat maps. This tells you everything you need to know (full-size image):

Keep the breaking ball on the edges and out of the middle of the plate, and good things will happen, especially when you have a Kluber-grade breaking ball. I dismissed Kluber’s history as a slow starter given his age and recent injuries, but it sure seems like he’s turned a corner. Still a lot of season left, though he’s starting to look like a worthy 1B to Gerrit Cole’s 1A.

There have been six no-hitters this season (not including Madison Bumgarner’s seven-inning no-hitter), one short of the modern era record (1990, 1991, 2012). That record could be shattered this year, but who knows? Would it surprise anyone if Kluber’s no-hitter was the final no-hitter of 2021? Six no-hitters in seven weeks is fluky no matter the offensive environment.

This many no-hitters in such a short period of time threatens to oversaturate fans and cheapen the accomplishment -- I don’t think there will ever be anything cheap about giving up no hits in nine innings against an MLB lineup no matter the league batting average (.236 currently) -- though I don’t see it that way. Wednesday was fun as hell. When your pitcher does it, it’s a blast.

The Mariners, Rangers, and Cleveland have each been no-hit twice this year and the Yankees still have 13 games remaining with those teams, so maybe another no-hitter is coming. The last three times the Yankees threw a no-hitter, they went on to win the World Series (Doc Gooden in 1996, David Wells in 1998, David Cone in 1999). I’ll see you all at the Canyon of Heroes.

(An entire generation of baseball fans is going to grow up hearing Michael Kay talk over every significant Yankees highlight. Good gravy man, just let the moment breath for once.)

Voit’s slow week

In eight games back, Luke Voit is 6-for-29 (.207) with 11 strikeouts. He did hit a home run the other night, though he’s swung through a lot of pitches in the strike zone, and generally looks a little out of whack at the plate. Simply put, Voit looks like a hitter who needed a few more minor league rehab at-bats before being activated. His timing and discipline aren’t there yet.

That said, Yankees first baseman hit .150/.250/.244 (45 wRC+) in 144 plate appearances during Voit’s absence. When that is the alternative, it made sense to bring Voit back and essentially let him finish his rehab in the big leagues. Even the current out of sorts version of Voit is way better than what the Yankees were getting out of first base the last six weeks.

I’m not worried about Voit’s slow first week back at all. Give him another few games to get his timing down and he’ll be socking dingers like always. As long as his surgically repaired knee is healthy (and by all accounts it is), then there’s no need to worry. He just needs a little more time to get locked in at the plate. It’ll happen soon enough. Panic level is zero.

“He’s a force in this league. Not only is he a dangerous hitter, but he’s a really good hitter,” Aaron Boone told Martin last week. “He obviously adds length to the lineup. He has really good power and he brings plate discipline. It’s a big deal getting him back in there.”

Death by double plays

The double play problem has returned with a vengeance. The Yankees grounded into 16 double plays in their first 13 games, then had a more manageable 12 double plays in their next 20 games. In their last 11 games though, they’ve banged into 20 (!) double plays, including a ridiculous four on Wednesday night (plus a line drive double play). Good gravy.

I’d say the double plays are a product of the Yankees having lots of baserunners, but they have a team .319 OBP in these last 11 games, which isn’t exactly great. They had nine baserunners during Kluber’s no-hitter and five were erased on double plays. The Yankees were fortunate to string together a walk, a triple, and a sacrifice fly (in that order) to score their two runs.

Here is the all-time single-season double play leaderboard:

1. 1990 Red Sox: 174 GIDP
2. 1996 Twins: 172 GIDP
3. 1983 Red Sox: 171 GIDP
4. 1982 Red Sox: 171 GIDP
5. Several teams tied with 170 GIDP

The Yankees are currently on pace for 177 -- 177! -- double plays. They won’t maintain that pace all season (I think?), but my goodness is this annoying. The double plays are the product of swinging at too many bad pitches, and also not doing nearly enough with hittable pitches out over the plate. The pitch locations on the double plays:

Lotta middle-middle pitches there, dudes. The Yankees have fouled away or missed way too many pitches in the happy zone this season. That’s going to happen sometimes, that’s baseball, but it is happening way too often this year. That’s the real problem here, missing hittable pitches. The double plays are just a symptom of that larger problem.

LaMarre and Frazier hurt

The Yankees went 7-3 on the road trip but really limped to the finish physically. It was a road trip straight out of 2019, in which the Yankees seemed to lose a different player to injury each night. Here’s a recap of the road trip injuries:

• Last Thursday: Gleyber Torres goes on the COVID list.
• Sunday: Aaron Hicks goes on injured list with a torn tendon sheath.
• Monday: Giancarlo Stanton goes on injured list with a quad strain.
• Thursday: Ryan LaMarre (Hicks’ replacement) goes on injured list with a hamstring strain.

The Yankees did get Torres back this week, plus Voit and Rougned Odor returned, so it’s not all bad injury news. Then again, Clint Frazier has missed the last few games with a neck issue, and Aaron Judge was out of the starting lineup yesterday after DHing the previous two games, so his vague lower body soreness is still a thing. The injuries go beyond the injured list.

Odor was away from the Yankees on the paternity list Wednesday, which opened a roster spot for Torres, then Odor took LaMarre’s spot yesterday. The Yankees went with a Miguel Andujar, Brett Gardner, Tyler Wade outfield yesterday and it felt very much like a “let’s just get through this game and we’ll figure everything out when we get back to New York” situation.

Wade’s done the job in right field the last few games but the Yankees need an actual backup center fielder. Greg Allen is on the Triple-A injured list with an oblique issue, so these are the current backup center fielder options:

• Socrates Brito (not on 40-man roster)
• Estevan Florial (on 40-man roster)
• Andrew Velazquez (not on 40-man roster)

Florial is 3-for-21 (.143) with nine strikeouts in five Triple-A games since last week’s promotion. Would be nice to see him have a little success before calling him up. Velazquez has not played the outfield at all this year, not even in Spring Training, but he’s done it plenty in the past. I don’t think he’d have a problem moving back out there.

Unless Hicks or LaMarre (or Darren O’Day?) is a 60-day injured list candidate, Mike Ford and Brooks Kriske are most at risk of losing their 40-man spot. Voit is back and the Yankees have DJ LeMahieu (and Andujar) available to back up first base, plus Chris Gittens is mashing in Triple-A. There aren’t many reasons to keep Ford around. He’s on the 40-man chopping block.

Assuming Frazier avoids the injured list, my guess is the Yankees will call up Brito today and designate Ford for assignment to clear 26-man and 40-man roster spots. It’s not worth the time or brain power debating between Brito and Velazquez. They’re both good defenders who aren’t going to hit, like LaMarre. Maybe the guy the Yankees pick gets hot. Maybe not. Shrug.

Boone indicated Stanton could return as soon as he's eligible to be activated next week, and seeing how he hasn’t played the outfield since the 2019 postseason and is coming off a lower body injury, I don’t see him as an outfield candidate. Brito (or whoever) will stay when Stanton returns and I guess Wade goes down since he has a minor league option (and the Yankees aren’t moving on from Odor).

The injuries are starting to pile up -- you know things are bad when the replacements are getting hurt -- and the Yankees can’t afford to lose anyone else. Lost in the no-hitter was the fact the Yankees had four hits in the game, and never more than one in an inning. They’re averaging 3.00 runs per game in their last 11 games against the Not Orioles. Yuck.

Hopefully Frazier’s neck issue is nothing serious and hopefully Stanton can actually return early next week. The Yankees badly need his bat. I gotta think a roster move is coming today to add a center fielder, and Ford is the obvious roster casualty, even if it’s just a demotion to Triple-A. The Andujar-Gardner-Wade outfield was a one-time thing, not the plan going forward.

2. DeShields rumor. According to Ken Rosenthal (subs. req’d), the Yankees and Rangers are discussing a potential Delino DeShields Jr. trade. Whenever (if ever) it gets done, hopefully it works out a lot better than that other time a team traded for a Delino DeShields.

DeShields, 28, is 14-for-34 (.412) with two homers in nine Triple-A games in the super early going. He’s spent parts of six seasons in the big leagues, mostly with Texas, and is a career .246/.326/.340 (76 wRC+) hitter in over 2,000 plate appearances. It’s a .235/.317/.316 (67 wRC+) batting line since 2019. Yuck.

With the exception of the short 60-game season, DeShields has consistently rated as an above-average defensive center fielder, and that’s what the Yankees need right now. He draws enough walks (career 9.8%) that his on-base percentage could start with a 3, and he’s very dangerous on the bases. Steals, first-to-thirds, etc. DeShields can do all that.

As noted in the previous blurb, injuries have thinned the outfield chart considerably the last two weeks, and we’re talking about Socrates Brito potentially coming up to replace Ryan LaMarre, who came up to replace Aaron Hicks because Greg Allen is injured. As far as scrap heap outfielders go, DeShields is about as good as it gets. This has a “Cameron Maybin in 2019” feel to it.

It shouldn’t cost much to acquire DeShields. A player to be named or cash would be ideal, but maybe the Rangers can wrangle a lower level prospect out of the Yankees since they’re a bit desperate*. Aaron Boone told Schuyler Dixon that LaMarre’s hamstring injury appeared pretty significant, so putting him on the 60-day injured list would clear a 40-man roster spot.

* Evan Grant notes DeShields can opt out of his minor league contract on June 1st. That leads me to believe it'll be a player to be named later or cash trade. The Yankees may be desperate for outfield help, but the Rangers don't really have any leverage.

Cleveland non-tendered DeShields rather than pay him $2M or so through arbitration this past winter. I don’t know the terms of his minor league contract but I can’t imagine it is worth more than Jay Bruce’s $1.35M at the MLB level, so DeShields would step into Bruce’s salary “slot.” Whatever the number, the Yankees aren’t making this trade unless it works with the luxury tax plan.

The trade wouldn't necessarily mean Hicks is heading for surgery. Even if the Yankees expect him back in a few weeks, that's a few weeks they'll need a backup center fielder, and LaMarre and Allen are hurt. DeShields would fill that void. If anything, the DeShields trade tells us the Yankees believe Estevan Florial is not MLB ready. No real surprise there.

Today will be telling. If the Yankees make a move to add an outfielder (call up Brito, etc.), then that’ll indicate they’re not confident a DeShields trade will go down (because the Rangers are asking too much, most likely). If they stand pat today, that’s a pretty good sign they’ll ride the current outfield out another day and hope to have DeShields in uniform this weekend.

(I wrote an entire blurb on Cleveland as a potential outfield trade partner before the DeShields rumor popped up. I dropped it in the content graveyard. It’s kinda pointless now. Feels like this DeShields trade will get done sooner rather than later.)

3. 2021 draft prospect: Miami C Adrian Del Castillo. The 2021 MLB Draft will take place during the All-Star break and J.J. Cooper (subs. req’d) reports MLB has informed teams the draft will be 20 rounds, the minimum number allowed under last year’s March agreement. The Yankees hold the No. 20 pick. Here is our 2021 draft prospect coverage archive.

Del Castillo, 21 on draft day, was considered a top five rounds talent at his Miami high school in 2018, but he was strongly committed to the University of Miami, so he slipped to the Reds in the 36th round. He didn’t sign and hit .331/.418/.576 with 12 home runs in 61 games as a freshman in 2019. Del Castillo played mostly outfield that year in deference to a more senior catcher.

Following an underwhelming summer in the wood bat Cape Cod League (.261/.311/.420), Del Castillo took over as the Hurricanes’ starting catcher last year, and hit .358/.478/.547 with two home runs in 16 games prior to the pandemic. This spring he’s hitting .305/.409/.449 with three homers in 45 games, which isn’t great for a top college hitter in his draft year.

MLB.com ranks Del Castillo as the No. 13 prospect in the draft class while Baseball America (subs. req’d) has him at No. 14. His stock is slipping though. Here’s some video and here’s a piece of MLB.com’s scouting report:

There is a lot to like about Del Castillo’s offensive profile, starting with his outstanding left-handed swing. He has a strong tendency to barrel up the baseball with an advanced approach, leading to more walks than strikeouts over his first two years with the Hurricanes … Just like when he was in high school, there are still some reservations about whether he can stick behind the plate long-term. His arm strength has improved and he tends to be accurate … his offensive profile alone will make him a first-rounder regardless of his defensive home.

For what it’s worth, Jim Callis has the Yankees taking Del Castillo with the No. 20 pick in his latest mock draft, though it sounds like speculation more than an informed projection. A lefty hitting catcher with upside at the plate is certainly up the Yankees’ alley though. Look no further than Austin Wells last year. Wells and Del Castillo are very similar.

Baseball America’s scouting report says “scouts still believe his feel for the barrel with a wood bat is among the best in the country” despite the underwhelming showing on the Cape. Also, Del Castillo received Major League instruction over the winter. He was workout buddies with Royals catcher Salvador Perez and bench coach Pete Grifol, who make their homes in Miami.

“My key was just basically getting better at catching,” Del Castillo told Wyatt Kopelman in February. “Obviously, I can improve in any game, but I think catching I felt like I needed the most. Over the offseason I was able to work with Salvador Perez and Pete Grifol, and they taught me a ton of things, and I listened very, very closely to what they told me, and I’m going to take it to my game. I was very fortunate to have them, thankfully, and helping me a lot to better up my catching back there.”

Coming into the spring Del Castillo was considered a potential top 10 pick, and possibly even a top five pick given the position scarcity. That won’t happen now because he hasn’t been great this spring, but he’s a talented player with considerable offensive upside. The Yankees are very willing to go offense over defense behind the plate and Del Castillo is the best bat-first catcher in the draft. He’s an obvious fit for their organizational preferences.

4. Rapid fire thoughts. The White Sox are in town this weekend and that gives me an excuse to chime in on this Tony La Russa nonsense. Earlier this week La Russa threw Yermin Mercedes under the bus for swinging 3-0 (and hitting a home run) in the late innings of a blowout with a position player on the mound. It was peak unwritten rules silliness, and La Russa called Mercedes “clueless” and said there’s a “consequence he'll have to endure within the family,” like he was Fredo working with Hyman Roth or something. La Russa could’ve easily made this into a “he ignored the 3-0 take sign and we’ll deal with this in the clubhouse” thing, but instead went public and made it about the unwritten rules and disrespecting the opponent. Sure enough, the Twins threw behind Mercedes the next day, and after the game La Russa said “I don't have a problem with how the Twins handled it.” Gotta say, I didn’t think I’d ever see a manager endorse the opposing team throwing behind one of his players, but here it is, right out in the open. Even if the manager believes that, you have to lie to protect your guys, not worry about the other team getting their feelings hurt. How are White Sox players supposed to believe La Russa has their back? Forget about all the tactical mistakes. The manager just came out and said he’s okay with the opposing team throwing behind his best hitter. I don’t know how you can expect your players to trust and respect you after that … And finally, two quick links I want to pass along. First, my pal R.J. Anderson wrote about shortstop prospect Oswald Peraza, and got some inside info on his adjustments at the plate and the resulting uptick in power. And second, David Wallace-Wells spoke to a Harvard epidemiologist about the Yankees’ COVID outbreak. In plain English, he explained why the outbreak is not necessarily worrisome. Pretty informative. Check those out.

Mailbag Questions of the Week

Robert asks: Why has Clint Frazier regressed so much? His zone swing % seems to be extremely low.

Frazier has always been a hitter of few swings. In the zone, out of the zone, whatever. He doesn’t swing the bat much at all. Over the last two years his zone swing rate (57.5%) is 12th lowest in baseball and his overall swing rate (36.2%) is fourth lowest. Frazier is passive more than disciplined, I think. He needs to let it rip more often.

The swing rate is only a small part of the problem though. Clint has stopped hitting the ball hard (his 84.7 mph average exit velocity ranks near the bottom of the league and his 4.7 mph drop from last year is seven largest in the game) and he’s hitting way too many popups and weak fly balls. His .176 BABIP is definitely earned (he has a .207 expected batting average).

The most troubling thing is this is part of a pattern, right? Pretty much every player who came up through the system and became part of the core has regressed or stalled out except Aaron Judge. Frazier, Miguel Andujar, Gleyber Torres, Gary Sanchez, and Jordan Montgomery are worse players today than they were 2-3 years ago. Hell, we could get super nitpicky and include Mike Ford in there too.

Injuries have played a role in that (Andujar, Montgomery, also Luis Severino) but we can’t blame it all on injuries. I’m always inclined to start with the players when it comes to assigning credit or blame. They’re the ones taking swings and throwing pitches, not coaches or the front office. The players bear responsibility for what happens on the field.

That said, this reflects poorly on Aaron Boone and his coaching staff, and the front office. There is always going to be some attrition. Look at Rougned Odor. He looked like a core piece for the Rangers, then just stopped hitting. But this much attrition? Judge hasn’t repeated his rookie season but that was an unrealistic expectation. He’s been awesome. Everyone else is going backwards.

The blame for Frazier’s poor season starts with him. The Yankees did him no favors the last few years though. When a 23-25 year old player hits .267/.351/.485 (123 wRC+) in nearly 500 plate appearances like Clint from 2018-20, you should help nurture that talent, not send him up and down repeatedly because it’s the easy roster move. The Yankees made his life more difficult than it needed to be.

If the Yankees had better options, Clint would be in Triple-A right now, but they don’t because Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton are hurt. He’s regressed badly since last year, and while young players require patience, Frazier’s been bad beyond the point of waiting it out. He’s to blame and so are the Yankees to some degree.

“It’s been tough. It’s gone on a lot longer than I think I expected -- anyone expected -- and I’m just trying to stay positive,” Frazier told Betelhem Ashame this past weekend. “... I’m just trying to take the plate discipline that I have right now and turn it into some hard contact, and just go out there and be myself.”

Michael asks: Is there any indication that teams that had an offense that was more fly-ball driven prior to this year are being hurt at a higher rate offensively?  It's not the Judge's and the Stanton's of the world who will be impacted by the new ball, but I'm wondering if perhaps a team with quite a few "second-tier" flyball hitters is seeing their offense decrease disproportionately? Not sure if that fits the Yankees profile.

Analysis during the rocket ball days found that those “second tier” power hitters benefited more from the ball than the elite power guys like Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Those guys are going to get theirs no matter what. The rocket ball helped the 10-15 homer guys become 20+ homer guys, and the 15-20 homer guys become 30+ homer guys.

It stands to reason that if those “second tier” power hitters benefited most from the rocket ball, then they’d be hurt the most when it’s taken away. DJ LeMahieu has gone from 20.9% HR/FB the last two years to 10.0% this year. That can’t all be the baseball (his exit velocity is down more than 2 mph) but surely it’s contributing some. This and this go out last year, right?

At this point we have enough evidence to know the new baseball has cut the league home run rate from 1.34 HR/9 (14.8% HR/FB) to 1.17 HR/9 (13.3% HR/FB) this year, and that it is likely contributing to an increase in spin rate (and thus strikeouts). How it is impacting individual hitters is still a bit of a mystery because we’re dealing with small samples, but there is some impact, and chances are those  “second tier” power hitters are feeling it the most.

Dylan asks: You tweeted (somewhat jokingly) about Angels being a trade partner as a last place team with a center fielder to replace Hicks. All joking aside, could the Yankees trade for Trout as a “rental” with an agreement that they’ll send him back in the offseason? Is there any precedent? Is that even allowed? Thanks!

Dylan sent this question in before Mike Trout went down with a calf injury that will sideline him 6-8 weeks. Ken Rosenthal (subs. req’d) recently noted non-COVID injured list stints are up 15% from April and May 2019, and lower body soft tissue injuries have nearly doubled. There’s been a rash of calf, quad, and hamstring injuries this year, perhaps due to the weirdness of last year.

Anyway, I joked about the Angels renting out Trout at some point in the past but I can’t find it now. There is precedent for a player being traded for himself. Harry Chiti (1962), Brad Gulden (1980), Dickie Noles (1987), and John McDonald (2005) were all traded for players to be named later, and were then sent back to the original team as the player to be named.

The Angels are in fourth place and they have the third worst run differential in baseball (-43), so it's looking like a seventh straight postseason-less season despite having Trout, Shohei Ohtani, and Anthony Rendon (and Jared Walsh). I understand not wanting to trade Trout, but letting a contender rent him for the stretch run is an interesting idea. A hypothetical:

• July 31st: Yankees trade Deivi Garcia and a player to be named for Trout.
• August through October: Trout mashes and leads the Yankees to a World Series championship, yay!
• Nov. 1st: Yankees send Trout back to the Angels as the player to be named.

The Angels get Garcia for their trouble and they get to keep Trout long-term. The risk is Trout suffers a catastrophic injury while with the Yankees, but in that case, couldn’t the Angels just say “you know what, you keep him and the $320M remaining on his contract?” How do you enforce the trade? What explicitly says Trout has to be the player to be named?

There’s no reason for MLB to stand in the way of a Trout “rental” trade -- the Angels would get something out of it (Deivi in our hypothetical), so it’s a legitimate baseball trade -- and frankly the league should be for it. The Angels stink (again) and it would be good for the sport to have Trout in the postseason and on the national stage. This won’t happen (I can’t see the Angels doing it) but you can argue it should. Would be fun and good for baseball.

Mark asks:  I'm currently watching a Cardinals/Brewers game and Giovanny Gallegos was pitching, and they mentioned J.P. Feyereisen having a great season so far too. I can't help but keep thinking about relievers the Yankees have traded away or given up on, only to see them pop up on other teams and have some great seasons. I think you might have done this in another column possibly but could you give us a rundown of some of those relievers, once in the Yankees system, that have seemingly had success on other teams?

This isn’t unique to the Yankees. There are a ton of relievers out there and not many stick with one team long-term. Eyeballing the 2020-21 reliever WAR leaderboard, I count only six of the top 20 and 10 of the top 30 still with their original team. Look at the current Yankees bullpen:

• MLB free agent: Aroldis Chapman, Justin Wilson
• Trade pickup: Luis Cessa, Chad Green, Mike King, Wandy Peralta
• Minor league free agent: Jonathan Loaisiga, Lucas Luetge
• Homegrown: none

The Yankees have used 18 different pitchers this year and only four were originally signed by the Yankees: Deivi Garcia, Brooks Kriske, Jordan Montgomery, and Nick Nelson. The other 16 all started their careers elsewhere. The Rays have a reputation for developing pitching and they originally signed only four of the 22 pitchers they’ve used this year.

Anyway, as for the question, there are fewer ex-Yankees prospects out there in other teams’ bullpens than I would have guessed. 240 relievers have thrown at least 10 innings this year and these are the former Yankees prospects:

• J.P. Feyereisen, Brewers: 3.26 ERA (4.12 FIP) and 26.0 K% in 19.1 innings
• Gio Gallegos, Cardinals: 2.13 ERA (2.38 FIP) and 30.4 K% in 25.1 innings
• Ian Kennedy, Rangers: 2.12 ERA (2.90 FIP) and 32.8 K% in 17 innings
• Mark Melancon, Padres: 0.87 ERA (2.94 FIP) and 20.5 K% in 20.2 innings
• Caleb Smith, Diamondbacks: 3.58 ERA (4.22 FIP) and 26.2 K% in 27.2 innings
• Trevor Stephan, Cleveland: 4.50 ERA (5.99 FIP) and 27.3 K% in 14 innings
• Dillon Tate, Orioles: 3.46 ERA (4.90 FIP) and 12.2 K% in 13 innings
• Garrett Whitlock, Red Sox: 2.18 ERA (3.57 FIP) and 25.9 K% in 20.2 innings

Kennedy and Melancon are longtime big leaguers far removed from their time with the Yankees. Smith was demoted to the bullpen last month. Stephan and Whitlock were Rule 5 Draft picks this year, Tate was part of the Zack Britton trade, and Feyereisen was dealt for international bonus money because the Yankees didn’t have a 40-man roster spot for him.

Gallegos has been dynamite since leaving the Yankees, throwing 115.2 innings with a 2.41 ERA (2.74 FIP) and 33.3% strikeouts in parts of four seasons with St. Louis. That trade is working out for both teams. The Cardinals got a high-leverage reliever and the Yankees got Luke Voit, who solved the post-Mark Teixeira first base problem in a big way. There are a bunch of ex-Yankees out there having good seasons for other teams because there are a bunch of good ex-everything having good seasons for other teams.

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