Bradley Hanner got the call Tuesday, and the New York Yankees are betting his best minor league season yet translates straight to the Bronx, as the Yankees open a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday.
The right-hander was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Tuesday, with Kervin Castro placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 10, for right elbow neuritis. Hanner will wear No. 93 and make his major league debut when Yankees manager Aaron Boone decides to call on him.
NEW YORK YANKEES STARTING LINEUP
SP: Ryan Weathers (LHP, #40) • 5-7, 3.79 ERA, 132 K
August 11, 2026 • Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY • 7:05 PM EDT
#
Player
Pos
B
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
4
Luis García Jr.
1B
L
24
78
4
.279
.862
6
George Lombard Jr.
SS
R
2
2
0
.294
1.047
7
Spencer Jones
RF
L
5
15
4
.212
.691
Lineups subject to change.
Castro's elbow issue left New York thin in low-to-mid-leverage relief, and Hanner was the obvious internal answer. He'd already forced the Yankees' hand once this year. An opt-out in July pushed the club to add him to the 40-man roster rather than lose him for nothing.
ESPN's top MLB insider Jeff Passan first reported the move, noting Hanner, 27, carries a 2.10 ERA with 61 strikeouts across 51 1/3 innings at Triple-A this season. "Hanner will make his major league debut when Aaron Boone calls his number," Passan wrote on social media.
This is Bradley Thomas Hanner's seventh professional season, and his first shot at a big league mound. Born February 10, 1999, in Rhoadesville, Virginia, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound righty starred at Orange County High School before landing at Patrick & Henry Community College, a two-year school not known as a pipeline to the majors.
The Minnesota Twins drafted Hanner in 2019 , taking him in the 21st round, 629th overall, and signing him for a modest $10,000 bonus. He bounced through that organization in 2019 and again in 2021 and 2022, got claimed off waivers by Cleveland in December 2022, and spent three seasons in the Guardians ' system, mostly at Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus, before hitting free agency last November.
New York signed him to a minor league deal that December, an invite that would have paid roughly $800,000 had he broken camp with the club. He opted out in mid-July, prompting the Yankees to add him to the 40-man roster rather than risk letting him slip away to another organization, then option him right back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, a move made possible by transferring Aaron Judge to the 60-day injured list.
SEATTLE MARINERS STARTING LINEUP
SP: Bryan Woo (RHP, #22) • 8-8, 4.31 ERA, 127 K
August 11, 2026 • Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY • 7:05 PM EDT
#
Player
Pos
B
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
9
Cole Emerson
SS
L
8
23
3
.196
.599
Lineups subject to change.
Hanner's career minor league line reads 37-24 with a 3.93 ERA and 403 strikeouts across 348 innings, mostly in relief. This season he's been sharper than ever, posting that 2.10 ERA with a 1.17 WHIP in 40 appearances, often working multiple innings at a clip.
His four-pitch mix leans on a sweeper that's generated serious swing-and-miss, reportedly breaking more than 20 inches laterally. He pairs it with an improved four-seamer, plus a cutter and sinker as complementary offerings.
Command has trailed him for years, and some evaluators flag a fly-ball tendency that could get tested against major league bats. Earlier in the season, Hanner's numbers were even sharper â a 1.99 ERA with 50 strikeouts through his first 40 2/3 innings â before some late-summer regression nudged the ERA up.
New York's bullpen has held up in stretches this year behind David Bednar and a rotating cast of middle relievers, but injuries and heavy usage keep creating openings. Castro's absence is the latest example, and it's Hanner who gets the call to fill it.
Nobody's projecting him into high-leverage work right away. But seven years and a $10,000 signing bonus after the Twins drafted him, Bradley Hanner finally gets his shot in pinstripes.
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