The Yankees announced Monday that they’ve designated right-hander Colby White for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to lefty Clayton Andrews, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Yankees placed righty Ian Hamilton on the Covid-related injured list in a corresponding move.
White, 25, was claimed off waivers out of the Rays organization back on May 9. He appeared in a pair of games for the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate but only recorded two outs. He faced six hitters, surrendered a pair of hits (including a homer) and a pair of walks with one strikeout. He yielded two earned runs in that very brief tenure in the organization.
The Rays selected White with their sixth-round pick back in 2019 and watched him develop into one of the system’s more promising arms. His 2021 campaign featured 62 1/3 innings of utter dominance across four levels; White posted a 1.44 ERA and struck out a ridiculous 45% of his opponents against a sharp 6.4% walk rate. Tommy John surgery wiped out his entire 2022 season and much of his 2023 campaign, however. He returned with 22 innings of 1.64 ERA ball last season in the minors but also a bloated 19.5% walk rate that pointed to surefire regression. He’s walked 23.1% of his opponents between the Rays and Yankees organization this season.
The 27-year-old Andrews came to the Yankees in a minor February trade with the Brewers. He was designated for assignment earlier this season and cleared outright waivers but remained in the organization. He’ll now be called up for what would be his team debut if he gets into a game.
A former 17th-round pick by Milwaukee, Andrews made his MLB debut with the Brew Crew last year, appearing in four games but yielding 10 runs in just 3 1/3 innings of work. Rough as that first look was, the southpaw also turned in a 2.53 ERA in 57 Triple-A frames, punching out 31.1% of his opponents. Command is an issue, evidenced by last year’s 13% walk rate, but Andrews has shown the ability to miss bats at a high level.
In 15 innings with Scranton so far this season, Andrews has been tagged for 11 runs — a 6.60 ERA. A massive 18.5% walk rate has played a role in those struggles, but he’s still whiffed 27.7% of the batters he’s faced and kept the ball on the ground at a big 54.5% clip.
Hamilton will hopefully only face a short-term absence. The 28-year-old righty has emerged as a key bullpen member for Aaron Boone over the past two seasons. While his 2024 campaign hasn’t been as strong as his 2023 season, he’s still given the Yanks 22 2/3 innings of 3.18 ERA ball. His 18.8% strikeout rate is down more than 10 percentage points from last year’s 29.9% mark, however, and his 8.9% walk rate is ever so slightly higher than the 8.5% league average. Hamilton still boasts a huge 14.4% swinging-strike rate and similarly impressive 35.7% opponents’ chase rate on pitches off the plate, both of which could portend a boost in strikeouts once he’s able to return to the active roster.
No one better in Yanks system than Andrews?
They’ll probably DFA him when Tommy Kahnle comes back in a few days to take his roster spot.
Makes sense. Don’t burn an option.
The original plan was for Kahnle to come back Wednesday, maybe they bring him back Tuesday now. His last rehab appearance was 1 inning Sunday.
Ron Maranaccio would have been the better option but they don’t want to shuffle him around again. He didn’t deserve to be demoted when they did but it’s a positive problem for the Yankees.
Ferguson not exactly covering himself in glory these days. Lucky he’s a lefty but his spot is starting to look less secure.
For one million dollars… Is that your final answer, Bob?
Epic.
They designated a block of cheese?
herman munster waiting for the call…
Are you in some competition for Prototype Fan of the Year?
WTF?!!! Andrews has a 6.60 ERA in AAA & he’s walked 12 batters in 15 IP.
Meanwhile, Ron Marinaccio, who was Fabulous at the major-league level, has a 1.08 ERA with 1 (ONE) walk in 8.1 IP with 9 Ks in AAA. How is a 6.60 ERA better than a 1.08 ERA? And how is 12 walks better than 1?
So, why would they promote Andrews, who STINKS at AAA, over Marinaccio, who’s been Fabulous at BOTH the MLB & AAA levels?
And don’t say because crappy Andrews is a Lefty & Marinaccio is a Righty because:
Lefty hitters were bating a PATHETIC .067 AGAINST MARINACCIO IN THE MAJORS! and Righty batters are hitting .188 against him.
Do the Yankees actually think Andrews will do better than a .067 BA against Lefty hitters at the MLB level, when he’s sucked at the AAA level?
Why are the Yankees seemingly determined to Utterly Destroy Ron Marinaccio’s morale?
How INSULTING is it to Marinaccio to see a guy with a 6.60 ERA in AAA & a 27.00 ERA in 4 MLB appearances promoted ahead of him?
WTF is the Logic to that?!!! Did Cashman decide the MLB bullpen’s stats were Too Good & they needed a piece of crap to increase their ERA & walk totals?
He came in tonight and gave up a Home Run. in a classic Boone/Cashman movie. Yet Ferguson was ready!
The butt-hurt runs strong through one named trojan toss.