Story by
Yankees Report Card: Grading the bullpen halfway through the 2026 season
- Story by
- Yankees Report Card: Grading the bullpen halfway through the 2026 season
When you keep hearing about how the Yankees need to shop in the relief aisle come the trade deadline, that probably tells you something about the state of their bullpen.
Despite nice numbers in some departments, the pinstriped 'pen has provided too many agita moments for a team with big-time October aspirations and needs, at the very least, more depth.
Advertisement
Your move, Brian Cashman.
Their closer has been nails lately, but had a 5.14 ERA as recently as May 18. Their hoped-for primary setup man has issues with left-handed hitters. Their lefty killer had a 4.02 ERA entering Wednesday (all numbers in this piece are entering Wednesday), nearly a run worse than his final mark last season. They've blown 13 save opportunities.
But the Yankees also have seen some pitchers emerge – Brent Headrick , for one – and have hope that one of their top prospects, Carlos LaGrange, can transition from the rotation to the bullpen to become a hard-throwing intimidator late in games. Fernando Cruz 's splitter is fearsome.
And the pen as a whole grades out well by several stats – entering Wednesday, the Yanks were sixth-best among bullpens in fWAR. They own the fourth-highest ground-ball rate of any bullpen in the majors and the third-best homers-per-nine-innings rate.
Advertisement
They are second in pen ERA (3.19) and have the fifth-lowest opponent average. They've also thrown the sixth-fewest bullpen innings. In their last 10 games entering Wednesday, Yankee relievers had a 1.13 ERA. In their last 22, it's 2.12.
We'll have to take it all into consideration as we formulate a grade for the relievers for the first half of this season.
David Bednar , the closer, has had some late adventures, but he's bloomed recently. He went on the paternity list on Monday carrying a streak of 12 straight scoreless appearances that trimmed his ERA more than two runs, down to 3.09. He's saved 16 games in 18 chances. And some of his expected numbers suggest his numbers could be even better.
He gets a lot of chase (his chase percentage is in the 100th percentile, according to Statcast) and his ground ball rate is in the 96th percentile.
New York Yankees pitcher Camilo Doval (75) looks on while a bug flies by his head during a game against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium, Aug 13, 2025, Bronx, New York, USA / Yannick Peterhans -- NorthJersey.com
Camilo Doval looks the part of a high-leverage reliever with a 98.5-mile-per-hour fastball and an expected ERA of 2.81. But overall this season he owns a 4.55 ERA, allows 8.5 hits per nine innings, and gives up massive hard contact.
Advertisement
Lefties, in particular, are mashing against him with a .350 average and a .941 OPS. To give you an idea of the OPS, there are only four batters in MLB who have an OPS that high this season and it's a glittering group – Yordan Alvarez , Juan Soto , Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber .
But Doval has been better lately, recording a 0.96 ERA in 10 games since June 5. But, perhaps indicative of his season, the one earned run he's allowed in that span came when he inherited a jam and surrendered a grand slam to Andrew Benintendi of the White Sox on June 18.
"Slumps are part of the game as baseball players," he told MLB.com through an interpreter afterward. "We all go through them. I'm not exactly getting the results that I expect of myself right this moment, but I know they're coming. I know a good streak is coming."
Cruz had a nifty 2025 and he's even better now with a 2.57 ERA in 39 games. He throws his diving splitter half the time and batters are only hitting .130 against the pitch. He's also finished 41 strikeouts with it, the fourth-most strikeouts on splitters in the majors. The three pitchers with more – Nathan Eovaldi , Shota Imanaga ,and Kevin Gausman – are all starters.
Advertisement
Lefty Tim Hillhas seen an uptick in ERA, thanks in part to a 7.45 mark in May. But he still gets ground balls as well as anyone, limits walks, and keeps the ball off the barrel while primarily relying on a sinker. If he keeps getting ground balls at his usual rate (63.6 percent), his ERA likely will plunge.
Headrick, in his first extended run in the majors, has proved invaluable as another lefty in the pen. The 28-year-old has a 1.58 ERA in 41 outings and only one pitcher who has pitched in at least that many games has a lower ERA – Toronto 's Louis Varland (0.98).
"He's been huge down there," Aaron Boonesaid recently of Headrick. "He just continues to solidify himself at this level. He's pitching with a lot of confidence."
The Yankees have gotten some good innings from Paul Blackburn ,who has a 1.17 ERA in June and a 2.50 mark overall. Ryan Yarbrough can offer multi-inning stints, too.
Advertisement
The Yanks haven't fixed Jake Bird , though. Bird, who came over at the trade deadline last year, has a 4.88 ERA and has been up and down from Triple-A.
GRADE : B-
There's high-level talent and it's hard to ignore the numbers. It just feels like the path to Bednar should be smoother. The Yankees have always shown a willingness and an ability to upgrade their bullpen, to say nothing of how they've unearthed relief gems others might've missed. Here's betting they do that again. The final grade could be much higher.
