One thing you can always count on is that the Yankees will find someone cheap and convert them into an impactful bullpen weapon. Luke Weaver went from the worst pitcher in baseball to the best reliever on the team in 2024, Tim Hill was DFA’d by the White Sox before becoming the Yankees’ primary lefty, and Jake Cousins was found off the scrapheap as well, the Yankees always find value in their bullpen. This year they’ve made some headline-grabbing additions such as the trade for star closer Devin Williams, but I still expect them to find value on the margins with this bullpen
A name who we could see make the jump from an afterthought to a legit bullpen weapon is Yerry De Los Santos, who the Yankees added to their 40-man roster to protect him from being plucked by another organization. Acquired in 2023, the right-hander made some interesting tweaks to his repertoire that could lead to a breakout 2025 season where he becomes a key piece of this bullpen.
Why Yerry De Los Santos Could Be a Big Weapon For the Yankees in 2025
With a 4.12 ERA and 21.3% K% in Triple-A, it makes zero sense to be excited about Yerry De Los Santos, but the Yankees worked with him to make some important tweaks to his usage rates midseason. Through the first half of the 2024 season, De Los Santos had a 5.50 ERA and 6.42 FIP, putting him in the kind of territory where he could find himself cut by the Yankees to make room for other arms coming through their Minor League system. His inability to miss bats stemmed from how often he threw his sinker, a pitch designed to get weak contact, not generate whiffs.
Throwing his sinker 66.8% of the time, it’s no surprise that he had a 16.3% K% and a mere 21.9% Whiff% against, and if the right-hander wanted to stick in the pros, he would need to adjust fast. In the second half, Yerry De Los Santos would cut his sinker usage down to 52.4%, increasing his slider and changeup usage a lot to try and induce more swings and misses, and both pitches delivered. With a 42.1% Whiff% on his slider and a 53.3% Whiff% on his changeup, De Los Santos punched more tickets as batters overall whiffed at 31.9% of pitches he threw.
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While his 96 MPH sinker isn’t a pitch he can throw 67% of the time, it’s certainly a strong primary fastball thanks to the movement it generates with the command he has of the pitch. Attacking the zone constantly with his sinker allows Yerry De Los Santos to get ahead in the count early and often, and if batters put it in play it typically results in soft contact on the ground. The Yankees were able to play up his sinker by having him trust his secondary pitches more often, and both his slider and changeup are excellent weapons.
The Yankees are known for developing sweeping sliders, but Yerry De Los Santos has a gyro slider, and while it doesn’t have the typical high velocity you expect, it generates good vertical drop with some lateral movement. His wide release point makes the slider more difficult for hitters to pick up, and his above-average command allows for him to attack the right parts of the zone frequently. It’s his primary strikeout weapon against right-handed batters, and while he can beat lefties with it as well, his changeup has emerged as the pitch that can quell opposite-handed batters.
For as solid as his sinker-slider combination is, the changeup might be the best pitch in his repetoire, with 1.9 inches of induced vertical break and 14.9 inches of arm-side run. The movement he generates on the pitch with a steep approach angle makes it a devastating weapon down in the zone, and batters chased against it 34.2% of the time. He can also keep the ball on the ground if they do make contact with his changeup, which can become an inning-ending double play that takes a team right out of a rally.
Changeups have become a pitch the Yankees are refining better than most organizations, and with Yerry De Los Santos developing a legit offspeed weapon, he could be a real weapon on the 40-man roster.
Having a year of development in Triple-A might have been the best thing that could happen to Yerry De Los Santos, who has just two MLB seasons under his belt and never really got a chance to settle in the big leagues. With 50 MLB innings while being 27 years old, the book is far from closed on the right-hander, and with the velocity and movement he can generate from his funky armslot, the Yankees might be able to convert him into a middle relief stud. His stuff is above-average, his ability to limit damage contact is pristine, and he might have finally figured out how to miss bats.
There’s utility against righties and lefties now, with Yerry De Los Santos going from a .453 wOBA allowed against left-handed batters to a .216 in the second half. The Yankees have displayed time-and-time again that they can maximize reliever value better than almost every team in the sport, and this might be their next success story. Health is always the biggest driving point behind a player’s success, as you can’t implement changes or get opportunities on the IL, and if De Los Santos can stay on the mound, he could turn enough heads at Spring Training to win a job.