The New York Yankees are preparing one of their top prospects for a possible bullpen role. The Yankees are moving hard-throwing righty Carlos Lagrange to the bullpen in Triple-A, reports the YES Network, and will see whether he can contribute to the big-league team ahead of the trade deadline.
“He’s definitely got everyone’s attention,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone stated about Lagrange in spring training (via MLB.com). “I love where he’s at. I would not be surprised if he is impacting us early, middle, later part of the season. I can just tell you, we’re all very excited about his continued development and what we think he could mean to our team at some point.”
Lagrange, 23, entered the season as the 49th-best prospect in baseball. He’s an extremely hard thrower, averaging 99.1 mph with his fastball in Triple-A this year and topping out at 103.1 mph. Per Statcast, Lagrange has thrown the 29 fastest pitches by a starting pitcher in Triple-A this season, and 44 of the 50 fastest. He also works with a slider and changeup.
New York’s bullpen has been effective overall this season, pitching to a 3.59 ERA (tenth in MLB) and 3.44 expected ERA (sixth), which is based on the quality of contact allowed. There have been several late-inning midadventures though. Yankees relievers rank 26th in win probability added, which reflects some blown saves and messy setup situations.
If Lagrange does make it to the Bronx as a reliever this season, he will bring needed velocity to a bullpen that ranks near the bottom of the league in average fastball velocity. Not coincidentally, Yankees relievers also rank at the bottom of the league in fastball swing-and-miss rate. Here are the numbers entering play Tuesday:
| Yankees | MLB rank | |
|---|---|---|
|
Bullpen average fastball velocity |
93.2 mph |
27th |
|
Bullpen 90th percentile velocity |
96.8 mph |
24th |
|
Bullpen swing-and-miss rate |
15.8% |
30th |
New York’s bullpen badly needs a reliever who can simply throw a fastball by hitters. Their relief crew largely relies on ground balls and getting hitters to chase breaking balls and changeups out of the zone, not being overpowering. Lagrange could, potentially, be that power reliever. If nothing else, it’s worth trying it in Triple-A and seeing what it looks like.
Even if the Lagrange move works out, it’s unlikely the Yankees would pass on the reliever market at the trade deadline. It could lessen their urgency to add a reliever, but it’s doubtful they would consider a young and inexperienced (inexperienced both in MLB and working as a reliever) pitcher the solution to their problem. A solution? Yes. The solution? Unlikely.
Lagrange has pitched to a 4.41 ERA in 11 starts and 49 innings in Triple-A this season. He’s struck out 29.0% of the batters he’s faced, comfortably above the 21.1% Triple-A average for starting pitchers. Lagrange has also walked 11.5% of the batters he’s faced. That’s above the 10.3% average. Control remains the biggest question.
The Yankees are 36-23 and one game behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East. Their plus-98 run differential is the best in the American League by 67 runs.
