The Yankees announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contract of veteran righty Zach McAllister from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and placed right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his right elbow. Anthony Rizzo was transferred to the 60-day injured list to create space for McAllister on the 40-man roster. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported shortly before the team’s official announcement that McAllister was slated to be called up to the big leagues.
It’s the 35-year-old McAllister’s first big league stint since the 2018 season. Originally selected by the Yankees in the the third round of the 2006 draft, it’ll also be McAllister’s debut appearance with the organization that started his big league career. The Yankees traded McAllister to Cleveland in a 2010 swap that brought outfielder Austin Kearns back to the Bronx. He went onto become a solid arm both in the rotation and the bullpen, but McAllister’s peak proved brief.
From 2012-13, McAllister started 46 games and pitched 259 2/3 innings for the since-renamed Indians, logging a 3.99 ERA along the way. He struggled in 15 starts the following season but found new life after a move to the bullpen. From 2015-17, he was a key member of Terry Francona’s relief corps, compiling 183 1/3 frames of 2.99 ERA ball.
McAllister again got out to a rough start to begin the 2018 season and this time found himself cut loose by the only big league club he’d ever known. He briefly signed with his longtime division-rival Tigers late in that 2018 season but pitched just 3 1/3 innings while allowing eight runs. He hasn’t pitched in the Majors since.
Since that brief stint in Detroit, McAllister has quickly reached journeyman status. He’s inked minor league deals with the Dodgers (twice), Rangers, Phillies, Cardinals and Diamondbacks but never climbed back to the Majors with any of them. That hasn’t stopped him from continuing his efforts to grind his way back to the show, and he’ll finally get that opportunity after a half decade in the minors — with the team that originally drafted him 17 years ago.
Plenty has gone wrong for the Yankees’ this year, but McAllister’s promotion was well-earned even when setting aside Loaisiga’s unfortunate injury. Since signing with the Yankees earlier this summer, he’s pitched 16 2/3 innings with the RailRiders, recording a pristine 1.62 ERA with a 20-to-4 K/BB ratio (33.3% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate). He’ll be a free agent again at season’s end and won’t be pitching for a postseason contender, but that won’t make the return to the Majors any less sweet for him after a lengthy, half-decade odyssey around the minor league circuit.
This is neat! Yes has been working away the fast 5 years. Welcome back big man!
Finally gets to pitch for his original organization. As for Loáisiga, it was clear something was wrong this past weekend. Great arm, but a career of injuries.
How many trips to the IL has Loaisiga made this year? Talented as he is, a barking elbow likely means TJ surgery sooner than later.
The only way this works is if McAllister spent at least part of the past 5 years developing a solid third pitch.
It’s not meant to work. It’s a feel-good story at best.
It’s not even meant as a feel-good story. It’s filling a roster spot for a team hit by multiple injuries to its pitching staff in the past week. They’re just running out the clock on this season, hoping no one else grabs their elbow.
I was thinking Zach could be our 2nd pitching coach down the road.
Maybe this is the transition!
Hmm…fast balls grooved down the middle and being hit with ferocious force.
Kudos to Zach for sticking it out!