The Yankees announced today that they have selected the contract of left-hander Jayvien Sandridge. He’ll take the active roster spot of right-hander Yerry De los Santos, who has been placed on the 15-day injured list with right elbow discomfort. To open a 40-man spot, infielder/outfielder Oswaldo Cabrera has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
De los Santos has given the Yankees 20 innings this year while only allowing 1.80 earned runs per nine. That level of performance is surely not sustainable with a 14% strikeout rate and 12.9% walk rate. He’s managed to keep runs off the board by having a huge 88.2% strand rate and no home runs allowed on the season.
The Yankees haven’t provided any information about how long they expect him to be out, though an elbow injury is naturally always a concern for a pitcher. More information is likely to be forthcoming in the near future.
For now, his IL placement opens a path for Sandridge to get to the big leagues for the first time. The 26-year-old southpaw has spent time in the minors with the Orioles, Reds and Padres without getting called to the majors. He reached minor league free agency at the end of last year and signed a minors deal with the Yankees.
Sandridge started the season on the injured list but was able to get back on the mound by the middle of May. He made a few rehab appearances at lower levels before moving up to Triple-A. Combined, he has thrown 12 innings this year with four earned runs allowed. He has walked six opponents but also struck out 20, for respective rates of 11.8% and 39.2%.
That’s generally been Sandridge’s recipe throughout his minor league career. From 2021 to 2024, he tossed 173 2/3 innings for various minor clubs with a 3.94 ERA. His 18.2% walk rate in that time was massive but he also struck out 33.7% of batters faced.
As of July of last year, FanGraphs considered Sandridge to be one of the top 20 prospects in the Padres’ system. That report noted that his fastball was sitting in the upper 90s but that controlling his slider is his biggest issue, throwing out Jake Diekman as a potential ceiling comp since Diekman carved out a nice career despite consistently high walk rates.
The Yankees came into today with the only lefty in the bullpen being Tim Hill, a veteran soft-tossing ground ball guy. Sandridge will give them a second southpaw with a different profile. Since this is his first big league call, he has a full slate of options and can be cheaply controlled for years to come, though he’ll obviously have to perform well enough to hold his 40-man roster spot.
As for Cabrera, his transfer to the 60-day IL is not a surprise. He suffered a grisly ankle injury in the middle of May and underwent surgery. He’s technically able to be reinstated 60 days from that initial IL placement, so mid-July, but he’s expected to miss most or all of the remainder of the season.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images
Would’ve never expected him to get called up
Why not Winans or Beeter? Are they both injured?
Agreed mlb. Beeter is as ready as he’ll ever be. Winans doesn’t have great stuff so understable they passed him over. I guess they wanted a guy with good stuff who’s a lefty…
@mlbnyyfan – They probably want to keep Winans stretched out as a starter for depth.
Drafted by Os in 2018. Pitched 2 years for their org, then went to Lynn college in 2021 only to be signed by the Reds that same year. How’s that work? I thought once you turned pro, you give up the right to pitch in college.
This article talks about it. news-journalonline.com/story/sports/minors/tortuga…
Thanks for that link, Dooper. It was a great read.
Genetics are not on his side.
What’s the percentage of aspiring pro ballers which make it to the big leagues?
Great story, and well-deserved for Sandridge.
He’s 26 years old and he’s a lefty, let’s see what he’s got.
I cannot see the name “Yerry,” and not think of “Little Yerry” from the cockfighting episode of Seinfeld.
Kramer has entered the chat!
Beeter can’t catch a break. First Effross and now Sandridge over him.
Wow, they burned up De los Santos already?!?
They’re exceeding my expectations.
The Yankees annual dizzying flurry of mediocre relievers’ revolving door is starting to heat up!!!
What about the TONK!!!
@OK Yankees Fan – Ottavino and Ryan Weber are available too. 😂
Guess they used Sandridge to not burn an option for Beeter or Winans, since it appears that Luke Weaver will be activated tomorrow.
Sandridge has already been demoted.
Only one option gets burned in a year, If a player on the 40 man roster, who is not on a limited rehab assignment, is in the minors, the option has already been burned for the year.
@Gasu – Thanks I misunderstood the part about being being removed from the 26 man roster. Like you said, they burnt the option when they didn’t make the spring training roster (and spent 20 days in the minors).
That makes it even sillier that the team didn’t use Beeter or Winans before.