Yankees reliever Ian Hamilton left tonight’s Game 3 loss in Cleveland with what the team called left calf tightness. The right-hander told Dan Martin and Greg Joyce of the New York Post that he’ll go for imaging before tomorrow night’s game.
Aaron Boone called upon Hamilton in the sixth inning while New York was trailing 2-1. He issued a leadoff walk to Lane Thomas before Daniel Schneemann hit a grounder to first base. Jon Berti knocked the ball down and flipped to Hamilton covering for the out. Hamilton evidently tweaked his calf while running to the bag. He threw a warm-up pitch after a replay of the call at first. He airmailed the throw and was immediately lifted for Tim Mayza.
Hamilton had a breakout season in 2023 after signing a minor league contract. He tossed 58 innings of 2.64 ERA ball behind a 28.9% strikeout rate and an excellent 55.3% grounder percentage. His follow-up has been more solid than great. Hamilton allowed 3.82 earned runs per nine across 35 regular season appearances. The strikeouts dipped by a few percentage points while his ground-ball rate plummeted to a pedestrian 43.8% clip. The 29-year-old missed a couple months midseason with a lat strain.
New York has carried Hamilton on each of their playoff rosters, though he hasn’t played a huge role. He made one appearance in the Division Series, working 1 1/3 scoreless frames with three strikeouts in their Game 2 loss to the Royals. This was Hamilton’s first action of the ALCS.
If the Yankees need to replace him on the roster, his season will be over. Players taken out midway through a playoff round are ineligible for the following series. The Post writes that one of Mark Leiter Jr. or Clayton Beeter would step into the bullpen as a replacement. Beeter only has three MLB games under his belt. Leiter has a lot more experience and seems likely to get the call.
Bryan Hoch of MLB.com relays (on X) that Boone indicated Leiter was the final cut from the pitching staff when the Yankees set their roster before the series. New York acquired the right-hander from the Cubs at the deadline. Leiter was striking out nearly 35% of batters faced at the time. He has continued to miss a fair number of bats in the Bronx (31.7% strikeout rate) but given up far too much hard contact. Leiter has been tagged for six homers in 21 2/3 innings as a Yankee and has been left off both series rosters to date.
rip hamdog, he is the goat
Mark Leiter it is I guess.
Noooo 🙁
Leiter is A disaster ready to happen.
Nooooooooooooooo………
It’s high-time in Yankeeland fellas! Yeah boiiiiii
LETS GO YANKEES!!!!!!!!
No Stanton slander will ever be tolerated again in my presence for real for real
A few pickup basketball games, good as new
Cousins let’s go. OMG. I knew Holmes would blow a game. Take him off the roster now. Captain it’s time to give him serious diarrhea. Why do they keep using Holmes???
Every time I see Clay Holmes emerge from the bullpen in a high leverage situation I turn the volume off on my TV, put “Don’t Dream It’s Over” by Crowded House on my stereo and open up a bottle of Olde English 800 malt liquor.
Don’t forget to pour one out for the hopes of all the other suffering homies.
What a game, eh?
My friend YBC,
It was a good game. Like the Sopranos series finale, it was enjoyable up until the end lol.
Or put “I dream of Jeannie on”
Another fist pumping chest pounder bites the dust. Good riddance.
Cashman lack of getting anyone significant for the Bull Pen is showing up now. I was hoping for the return of Houdini
Boonedoggle tends to overuse his effective guys and burn them out. Of course, the Guardians have done that as well. It boils down to a battle of attrition. The Yankees still have the edge but last night was a reality check.
Please no Leiter. He’s like bad drugs, just say no. Otherwise you’ll wake up in the morning feeling sick and like you made some baaad choices the night before.