One of my biggest question marks entering Opening Day was how Aaron Boone would manage the Yankees‘ bullpen as the team departed to New York without multiple key relievers. On top of those injuries, the depth pieces brought in got hurt as well, including veterans Tyler Matzek and rookie Clayton Beeter. What the team was relying on included two relievers with an ERA over 4.00 last season, a pair of young relievers without a track record in the big leagues, and a late spring MLB signing of Ryan Yarbrough.
Their first test? Passed with flying colors. The bullpen not only displayed some strong early showings, but we’re also seeing some significant stuff gains from Spring Training translate into the regular season. Whether this team relies on these eight guys for more than just a few weeks or not, the upside flashed in that first series has quelled concerns about a potential lack of depth with that group as they fight through injuries.
Yankees’ Relievers Showing Significant Arsenal Improvements in 2025
The Yankees have turned to some unfamiliar faces and unlikely hero to fill out bullpen spots with their wave of injuries, and they’ve shown improvement from their previous seasons in their debut outing and throughout Spring. Brent Headrick was a waiver claim that most fans didn’t pay attention to, but the Yankees were able to unlock some more velocity and movement on his four-seam fastball. Once a pitch he was getting crushed on, his four-seamer added a tick of MPH which resulted in 18 strikeouts in 11.2 innings of work in the Grapefruit League.
In his first outing with the Yankees, he punched out two of the three batters he faced, and his four-seamer saw a significant spike in Stuff+ from the year prior. Even more encouraging was the improvement to his offspeed pitch, as it was recently changed by Baseball Savant to a splitter and the Yankees were able to get more depth on that weapon. It averaged 3.3 inches of Induced Vertical Break during Spring Training compared to 10.6 inches of IVB in 2024. He might find himself optioned to Triple-A when Ian Hamilton returns, but Headrick is a nice depth option to have for the roster.
Another long reliever who made significant strides was Yoendrys Gomez, who has made some serious improvements to his pitch mix, especially with his four-seamer and sweeper.
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His fastball velocity is up, his sweeper is moving more laterally, and the Yankees could have something here with Yoendrys Gomez (who is out of options). The Yankees were on the verge of having to cut him from the roster before this wave of injury, but credit to Gomez, he put the front office in a position where he could not be refused if they had an opening for him. This wasn’t a situation where the Yankees had optioned a more deserving arm in place of Gomez to try and keep him, he out-pitched everyone else in Spring Training.
During the Grapefruit League, Yoendrys Gomez posted a 112 Stuff+ on Eno Sarris’ model compared to the 93 Stuff+ he posted during the regular season. These two arms are both capable of pitching 2 to 3 innings if needed, as their backgrounds as starter can help the Yankees with their currently depleted rotation. Fernando Cruz and Mark Leiter Jr. also joined the Stuff+ improvement party, as these two arms have made different changes to put an ugly 2024 campaign behind them.
Fernando Cruz has added a slider with good lateral movement that can get swings and misses against right-handed batters and a sinker to replace his crappy cutter. These additions give Cruz a way to move the ball east and west while having his already-existent four-seamer and splitter attack north and south in the zone. Creating new movement profiles and different looks is a key part of pitching, and while I was concerned about their pitch design abilities, the loss of Desi Druschel has not affected their aggression pushing guys to try out new solutions.
For Mark Leiter Jr. the name of the game hasn’t been changing his repertoire, but rather making the already-existing pitches better by throwing harder.
I’ve written before about Mark Leiter Jr. throwing harder during Spring Training, but you have to be weary about velocity gains this time of year since guys are fresher than ever. If his fastball was up half a mile I wouldn’t have batted an eye, but he’s hit a new PR in velocity multiple times since his Grapefruit League debut, with his 11 fastest sinkers coming from this calendar year alone. The improved velocity gives him a greater margin of error, and that’s going to help him a lot as he tries to get ahead in counts to set up that nasty sinker.
The nucleus of Tim Hill, Luke Weaver, and Devin Williams should be as good as advertised, and Ryan Yarbrough brings a veteran arm with some funky stuff to the mix as well. Most teams lose a good chunk of their bullpen and find themselves immediately drowning, but the Yankees’ continued success finding bullpen talent on the margins should keep them afloat for now. Not all of these guys will have strong seasons but with the sheer volume of injured relievers expected to come back before June in Jonathan Loaisiga, Tyler Matzek, and Ian Hamilton, they’ll be able to replace ineffective arms.
It’s way too early to start calling this the best bullpen in baseball, but with those injuries, they still managed to put up a 2.92 ERA with a 36% K% through their first three games. Sam Briend and Matt Blake just make magic out of any bullpen unit put in front of them; it’s not normal to have a staff that makes this many improvements, but the Yankees continue to find a way on that front.