The Mariners announced that left-hander Justus Sheffield has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma.
Sheffield, 27 in May, was a first round draft pick and was previously considered one of the top prospects in baseball. Selected 31st overall by Cleveland in 2014, went to the Yankees in 2016 as part of the Andrew Miller trade and then went to Seattle in the 2018 James Paxton deal. Baseball America placed him on their top 100 list for four straight years beginning in 2016, including placing Sheffield in the top 50 for the latter two years of that stretch.
Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to deliver on that hype so far. He’s pitched 186 innings in the big leagues over the past five seasons with a 5.47 ERA, 18.2% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate. His 49.5% ground ball rate is strong but the results have been poor otherwise. His work in the minors hasn’t inspired much confidence either, as he registered a 6.99 ERA over 24 Triple-A starts last year.
Those poor results nudged him off the roster when the Mariners signed Tommy La Stella last week. None of the 29 other clubs were willing to commit a roster spot to Sheffield so he’ll stick with the M’s as non-roster depth. Players with over three years of service time or a previous career outright can reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, but Sheffield doesn’t meet either qualification. If he earns his way back onto the roster, he still has one option year remaining.
WELCOME TO DETROIT……………..D.F.A CAPITAL…No amount of pitching is too much ? I don’t know how we missed him.
Justus will prevail!
Not you. Justus
@Balding. ROFL! That was good!
His stuff has never been impressive. At one time, he had great location to go with a 4 pitch arsenal. Now, he can’t locate and he doesn’t throw the sinker. He has a very human fastball slider change combo. If the location isn’t top notch, he’s likely to get touched up, or worse, and it can get ugly
The only thing he ever impressed was scouts looking for a bunch of clicks by Yankee fans
And the Cleveland scouts who thought he was worthy of getting picked in the first round, and the Seattle Mariners brass, who got him as the headliner for Paxton.
Just looked him up. He had a stinker, slider, change up, four seem arsenal. His fastball he threw the least frequent and it only hit 92 mph, the sinker at 91.
https://www.brooksbaseball.net/landing.php?player=656954#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20they%20relied%20primarily,has%20some%20natural%20sinking%20action.
That website gives some good detail on Sheffield as well as all major leaguers.
There was a time when there was a distinct difference in movement between his 4 seamer and that 2 seamer (sinker)….they really seem to blend together these days. I’m surprised to see a cutter in there as well because his stuff just does not move very much. His hard stuff is 90-92 and very bland.
He threw his stinker most frequently.
I remember when Sheffield first came up. I took a look at him and told everyone on Shannon Drayer’s blog, “This guy looks like a real baseball player.”
So much for my snap judgment. Justus just didn’t pan out.
He was a flash in the pan. No real gold there after all.
Win some, lose some.
He was a real baseball player.
In the shortened 2020 season Justus Sheffield had an ERA of 3.58 and an ERA+ of 119 in 10 starts.
The other seasons were not encouraging.
Turns out, it was just a really fancy Halloween costume. Like one from a legit cosplay creator and not the spirit Halloween in the old Sears for the month before Halloween.
He sure did look like a real baseball player though.
Still young enough to turn it around. A full-time move to the bullpen might help.
angt222, what I was trying to say earlier is that after all this time, with no growth, Sheffield is done.
That is not a snap judgment. He’s had his time and now he’s gone.
Yankee fans, do you think that Matt Blake can fix him? Is he worth a minor league deal and big league camp invite to work with the coach who turned Clay Holmes into an effective closer?
Remember how promising Sheffield was when he was a Yankee farmhand.
Cleveland and a few others have probably already analyzed and talked it over.
He’ll be in another organization come Spring Training.
P.S. Rothschild ruined a lot of young Yankee pitchers.
Not sure if Blake was with Cleveland when Sheffield was there, and if so whether he ever worked with him.
Considering that all 29 teams passed on him, probably not.
He cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Tacoma. Seattle has him under control on the minor league roster for now…he is no longer there for the taking. So someone can now do a minor league trade for him, but the odds are longer as he already cleared waivers which means that no one really wanted him.
I remember when Yankee fans were saying Sheffeild was gonna be the next Pedro Martinez. Him + Clint Frazier + Miguel Andujar was the ultimate trade package according to Yankee fans about 3-4 yrs ago
Yeah nobody said that. Good try, though! Now talk about delusional Mets fans who thought Dom Smith and JD Davis were the next coming of Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez.
JD still a better bat than 3/4 of what the Yanks got on opening day.
That just isnt true
Rizzo, Judge, Stanton, Torres, Bader, DJLM, Cabrera, all better than JD Davis.
I feel personally attacked 🙂
The most tired overused narrative in the history of comment sections. To still use it proves how little goes through people’s minds.
Yeah no one ever said those guys would be the next Kid
Yeah no one said that. Just making that up.
I remember 1986. I guessing you don’t.
There were many on here who considered him untouchable ( and Chance Adams ), even for Machado, who Baltimore was shopping at the time.
Sheffield was traded over 4 years ago so I doubt that assertion. Unless Yankees fans kept saying they should trade a player they already traded for an entire year after they traded him.
Justus, Judge and Drury would have been a great trio.
Judge, Drury, and the Mexicutioner.
Joakim Soria
How can you outright a lefty?
Because what’s right is all that matters.
True.What’s right is all you got left.
As Spaceman Bill Lee said, “Lefties are the only people in their right minds”
No Justus no peace
Seattle got Justus like they wanted but decided they didn’t like. He’ll now wait for a Portland expansion team.
“I AM THE LAW!”
This is an injustus
Hahaha remember when Cashman refused to include sheffield in a trade package for Machado?
Right from yankeesgoyard, which prides themselves on being “intelligent”….
quote
“I’d trust Brian Cashman making decisions over any other GM in baseball and I don’t think he would make this kind of trade unless he has something else brewing.”
https://yanksgoyard-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/yanksgoyard.com/2018/07/11/yankees-trade-sheffield-machado-mistake/amp/?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16747771798412&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fyanksgoyard.com%2F2018%2F07%2F11%2Fyankees-trade-sheffield-machado-mistake%2Famp%2F%23amp_tf%3DFrom%2520%25251%2524s%26aoh%3D16747771798412%26referrer%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com
You’re going to clickbait sites like yanksgoyard to make your point? Good lord. That’s just sad.
Any bets he’ll be back in ’25 with a knuckler?
He and Ryan Feierabend can start the rise of lefty knuckleballers!
The Yankees traded Andrew Miller for what amounted to a net value of one year of James Paxton. Sheffield in AAA Scranton had terrible efficiency as he couldn’t put hitters away.
That was Sheffield. He could always get to two strikes on a hitter quick. But he never could put them away. So frustrating.
From cy young to sayonara