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Kenta Maeda Plans To Pitch In Japan In 2026

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In an appearance on TV Tokyo’s “Sports Real Live” show (Japanese language link from Yahoo Japan), Kenta Maeda said that he is leaving North American baseball behind at the conclusion of the 2025 season.  Maeda revealed that he initially made his decision after signing his two-year, $24MM deal with the Tigers that that would be his final contract with a Major League team, and he is hoping to continue his career in Japan with a Nippon Professional Baseball club in 2026.

Maeda (who turns 38 in April) began his pro career with eight seasons with the Hiroshima Carp before being posted for MLB clubs, and signing an incentive-heavy eight-year, $25MM deal with the Dodgers back in January 2016.  Maeda’s stint in North America has seen him suit up in nine Major League seasons, with the 2022 campaign missed entirely since he was recovering from a Tommy John surgery.

After struggling badly in the first year of his Tigers contract, a move to the bullpen didn’t change Maeda’s fortunes this year, and Detroit released the right-hander in early May.  He then joined the Cubs on a minor league contract before being released in early August, quickly landing with the Yankees on another minors deal.  Over 76 1/3 Triple-A innings this season, Maeda hasn’t shown any of his old form, posting a 6.25 ERA for New York and Chicago’s top affiliates.

During the TV Tokyo interview, Maeda said his family has been living in Japan during his year in the minors, in order to have some stability while Maeda has now bounced around to multiple teams.  His recent on-field results (or lack thereof) had no bearing on his decision, as Maeda stated that he would’ve returned to Japan after 2025 if he’d been a 20-game winner at the big league level.

Since it doesn’t look like the Yankees will be calling Maeda up in September, his MLB resume could be closed after 226 games (172 of them starts) with the Tigers, Twins, and Dodgers over parts of nine seasons.  Maeda has a 4.20 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate, and 7.8% walk rate over 986 2/3 career innings in the regular season, as well as a 3.24 ERA across 41 2/3 career postseason frames with Minnesota and Los Angeles.

Though his final act in Detroit didn’t go well, Maeda was generally a very effective pitcher in the majors.  He had a 3.87 ERA during 589 innings in L.A., with the Dodgers using Maeda both as a starter and as a reliever, though Maeda made it known that he preferred rotation work.  A trade to the Twins prior to the 2020 season gave Maeda a full-fledged starting job, and he responded with a runner-up finish in AL Cy Young Award voting, posting a 2.70 ERA in 66 2/3 innings during the pandemic-shortened season.  He wasn’t as effective during a 2021 campaign that was cut short by his Tommy John procedure, though Maeda returned in solid form (4.23 ERA in 104 1/3 IP) for Minnesota’s AL Central-winning team in 2023.

Jonathan Loáisiga Done For The Year

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Yankees right-hander Jonathan Loáisiga has a flexor strain and won’t return this year. However, he is unlikely to require surgery, which perhaps bodes well for next year. Manager Aaron Boone provided the news to reporters including Chris Kirschner of The Athletic and Greg Joyce of  The New York Post.

Loáisiga, 30, is a talented pitcher but he has often been held back by injuries. In 2023, he underwent surgery to remove a bone spur from his elbow and only pitched 17 2/3 innings that year. In April of 2024, he required internal brace surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow.

He reached free agency and the Yankees decided to sign him for 2025, even though he was still recovering from that surgery at the time. Before all the injuries popped up, Loáisiga had put up some good numbers. Over 2020 and 2021, for instance, he logged 93 2/3 innings with a 2.50 earned run average, 23.8% strikeout rate, 6% walk rate and 58.4% ground ball rate.

The Yanks were surely hoping that a clean bill of health could get him back to that level but it didn’t play out that way. He was reinstated from the injured list in mid-May but landed back on the IL due to mid-back tightness. He started a rehab assignment shortly thereafter but then suffered the flexor strain which has now ended his season. Around those injuries, he gave the Yankees 29 2/3 innings with a 4.25 ERA, 18.5% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 50.5% ground ball rate.

The Yankees bolstered their bullpen ahead of the deadline by trading for David Bednar and Camilo Doval, adding those two to a group that already included Devin Williams, Luke Weaver and others. They recently welcomed Fernando Cruz back from his own IL stint. The relief corps has a 4.88 ERA in August but there’s lots of talent in there and they have a chance at righting the ship down the stretch and into the postseason. Getting a healthy Loáisiga in there could have helped but that won’t happen now.

The Yankees will have to make a decision about next year. Loáisiga’s $5MM deal came with a $4.5MM salary and $500K signing bonus, plus a $5MM club option for 2026 with no buyout. They were willing to place a $5MM bet on him last offseason but it’s possible his subpar performance this year pushed them away from doing so again. This injury presumably makes it even less likely they trigger the option. But they clearly like the player and he’s unlikely to require surgery, so perhaps they could re-sign him at a different price point.

Boone also relayed, per Kirschner, an update on lefty Ryan Yarbrough. The southpaw will likely be working out of the bullpen when he comes off the IL. He gave the Yanks some good results in a swing role earlier this year, making eight starts and eight relief appearances with a 3.90 ERA. Unfortunately, a right oblique strain put him on the IL in mid-June.

While Yarbrough has been away, Luis Gil returned from his own IL stint to retake a spot in the rotation. Also, Cam Schlittler came up from the minors and has been really good through his first eight starts. The rotation now features those two alongside Max Fried, Carlos Rodón and Will Warren.

Yarbrough has been rehabbing lately and has been getting stretched out. His third and most-recent outing saw him toss 4 2/3 innings. But there’s not really a spot for him in the rotation, so the Yankees will seemingly put him in a long relief role. They also have Paul Blackburn doing long relief work and could cut him, though rosters expand in September, which will perhaps allow the club to roster both of them.

Photo courtesy of Jason Parkhurst, Imagn Images

Poll: AL MVP Race Check-In

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Back in June, MLBTR conducted a pair of polls checking the temperature on the two MVP races, and both polls saw the league’s reigning MVP earn a dominating majority. Aaron Judge pulled in 55% of the vote in the American League poll, while Shohei Ohtani did even better as he commanded 57% of the vote in the National League’s poll. Since then, Ohtani has broken away from the pack in the NL as he’s more fully resumed two-way duties. While other players like Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and Pete Crow-Armstrong have put together excellent seasons of their own in the NL, it’s hard to see that race as anything other than Ohtani’s to lose headed into the final month of the season.

By contrast, the AL MVP race has tightened considerably over the past two months. A big part of that is the fact that  Judge hasn’t looked like his usual superhuman self lately. The 33-year-old is still slashing an absurd .323/.439/.667 (193 wRC+), a figure that leads the majors by a substantial margin. However, Judge’s numbers have come down quite a bit in the past two months. Since the day our last AL MVP poll was published, Judge has hit “just” .240/.385/.540 with 12 homers and a 26% strikeout rate in 192 trips to the plate.

That lack of volume is thanks to a flexor strain in Judge’s elbow that sent him to the injured list for a minimum stint a few weeks ago, and his .210/.380/.403 slash line since returning from the injured list only underscores that he’s not playing at full strength. He’s also been relegated to a DH-only role for the month of August and has no timetable for his return to the outfield, though he’s already begun making throws to the infield in pregame workouts.

Of course, Judge looking mortal for a month or so wouldn’t be terribly noteworthy without someone mounting a substantial challenge for his league’s MVP award. Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh is doing exactly that. Raleigh’s phenomenal season has earned him plenty of attention all year, but he’s only garnered more attention as an MVP candidate in the weeks since Judge’s injury. Interestingly, Raleigh’s offensive numbers have slumped a bit right alongside Judge. While he was slashing .278/.383/.665 at the time of our last AL MVP poll, he’s hit a less robust .204/.311/.498 in 235 plate appearances since then. That includes a .202/.302/.524 slash line in August that isn’t all that far ahead of Judge’s numbers.

Even with the pair both cooling at the plate, Raleigh has still been playing catcher regularly and hasn’t missed time on the IL like Judge has. Raleigh, who secured just 37% of the vote in our last poll, now has eight more games played and 31 more plate appearances than Judge. It’s a small gap, but in a close race, an increased defensive workload and slight lead in terms of overall volume could be key differentiators.

There’s also the factor of history to be considered. Judge managed to surpass Ohtani in the 2022 AL MVP race in part because he set the AL home run record that season. Raleigh would need to hit 13 homers before the end of the season in order to take the title of AL home run king away from Judge, but his prodigious power has already secured him one piece of history that Judge has no hope of taking away: last night, he became the first catcher in MLB history to slug 50 homers in a season. All of that comes together to make Raleigh a legitimate contender for the award alongside Judge, and the fact that the pair are tied at the top of the MLB leaderboard with 7.3 fWAR a piece only further speaks to the viability of both candidates.

Few players in the AL have a realistic shot of challenging these two titans, but one player who could make an interesting case for himself with a strong September would be Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who finished second for the award behind Judge last year. Witt only received token consideration for the award in our last poll, garnering just 2.3% of the vote two months ago. Since then, however, he’s outperformed both Judge and Raleigh with a .313/.370/.524 slash line, a 13-for-14 record on the bases, and defense at shortstop that should make him a lock for his second consecutive Gold Glove award at the position. Witt’s 6.5 fWAR and 130 wRC+ both substantially trail Judge and Raleigh at this point, but if those two continue trending downward while Witt continues trending up, it’s at least possible that we could be in for a three-horse race.

Who do MLBTR readers think will ultimately win this year’s AL MVP award? Will Judge hold onto the title for the second year in a row? Will Raleigh’s historic season behind the plate be enough? Could Witt’s second-half surge be enough to overcome both of them? Have your say in the poll below:

Who Will Win The AL MVP Award?
Cal Raleigh 71.43% (4,878 votes)
Aaron Judge 22.77% (1,555 votes)
Bobby Witt Jr. 3.56% (243 votes)
Someone Else 2.24% (153 votes)
Total Votes: 6,829

Boone: Yankees Still Consider Volpe Starting Shortstop

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Anthony Volpe is out of the lineup as the Yankees open their series against the Nationals. It’s the second straight game in which José Caballero gets the start at shortstop. New York is giving the scuffling Volpe what amounts to a two-day mental reset. However, manager Aaron Boone made clear this evening that the Yankees aren’t moving the third-year infielder to the bench.

“I view Anthony as our shortstop,” Boone told reporters (including Chris Kirschner of The Athletic). The skipper confirmed that Volpe would be back in the lineup tomorrow and continue playing regularly from that point. He added that the Yanks consider Caballero their “10th man” and will keep bouncing him around the diamond in a utility role (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com).

Volpe is hitting .208/.274/.400 across 509 plate appearances. He had a productive April but carries a .198/.255/.382 batting line in 96 games since the beginning of May. Volpe has never hit for a high average or reached base at a strong clip. He’s tied with Dansby Swanson for eighth among shortstops with 18 home runs, but he hasn’t been a productive overall hitter. The struggles have magnified over the past six weeks, as he’s batting .171 with a .203 on-base percentage going back to July 1. Among 253 hitters with at least 100 plate appearances in that stretch, only Miami’s Dane Myers has a lower batting average. No one has a worse on-base mark.

The offensive drought is magnified by his uncharacteristic issues on the other side of the ball. Volpe won a Gold Glove as a rookie in 2023; he was a finalist for that honor last year. He trailed only Swanson and Ezequiel Tovar in combined Defensive Runs Saved among shortstops over those two seasons. Statcast’s Outs Above Average had him tied for seventh. Even with the OBP deficiencies, Volpe’s power and plus defense made him a valuable all-around player. The Yankees presumably felt he was on a similar trajectory as Swanson, an eventual everyday shortstop on a World Series team who received a $177MM free agent contract.

Volpe’s defensive grades have tanked this year as well. DRS has him right around average. Statcast has him five runs below par, tying him for fourth worst at the position. Volpe has committed 17 errors, matching his career high with another month to play. Only Elly De La Cruz (19) has been charged with more this season.

Caballero, acquired from the Rays at the deadline, has gotten out to a fantastic start to his Yankee tenure. He’s hitting .286 with more walks than strikeouts in 15 games. Caballero has stolen six bases in seven tries and is up to an MLB-high 40 steals between Tampa Bay and New York. He led the American League with 44 steals last year, though he was also caught a league leading 16 times. Caballero is a plus runner and versatile defender but is unlikely to remain an above-average hitter over a large sample. He owns a .227/.313/.337 batting line in more than 1000 career plate appearances.

There’s no argument that Caballero hasn’t been the more productive player of late. Still, the 24-year-old Volpe entered the season as New York’s expected franchise shortstop. Caballero is soon to turn 29 and is established as a high-end utility player. The Yankees can still find playing time for him on most days. He’s a right-handed complement to Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ryan McMahon at second and third base, respectively. They’re tolerating Giancarlo Stanton in right field for as long as Aaron Judge is unable to throw at game speed, but they’ll frequently kick Caballero into the outfield later in games for defensive purposes.

Yankees Notes: Judge, Volpe, Cruz

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Aaron Judge has been hampered by a flexor strain in recent weeks. He first spent a minimum stint on the injured list to rest his ailing elbow, and since returning he’s been limited to exclusively DH work. Earlier this week, some questions were raised about just what shape Judge will be able to get his throwing arm back into before the end of the year. Fortunately, any concerns over Judge’s ability to throw seem to be on hold for the time being as Judge started throwing to the bases from the outfield during pregame workouts today.

The reigning AL MVP told reporters (including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch) today that was about “checking a box” in his rehab and that he’s sticking purely to what the team’s trainers tell him to do as he works his way back into condition to resume regular duties in the outfield. Manager Aaron Boone, meanwhile, told reporters (including The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty) that while Judge “looked good” throwing to second base today, there’s still no timetable for his return to the grass in a game setting. Boone emphasized that the club feels it’s important to take Judge’s recovery process slowly in order to avoid re-injury.

That, of course, makes sense given how important Judge’s 196 wRC+ bat is to the lineup. Judge’s .218/.386/.418 (126 wRC+) slash line since returning from the IL on August 5 isn’t quite as robust as his usual otherworldly numbers, but it’s still well above average production that virtually any other hitter in the sport would be happy with. In the meantime, Giancarlo Stanton has begun playing in right field as a temporary solution to get his bat in the lineup while Judge occupies the DH slot.

Stanton’s return to the outfield isn’t the only shakeup of the Yankees lineup from the past few days. Shortstop Anthony Volpe has had a rough year on both sides of the ball, and today Boone made the decision to leave him out of the club’s starting lineup with deadline addition Jose Caballero starting at shortstop in his stead. Boone was non-committal before the game (as noted by Greg Joyce of the New York Post) about when Volpe would return to the starting lineup, but he was used as a defensive replacement in tonight’s game against the Red Sox. After a four-hit performance on August 1, Volpe has hit a paltry .121/.171/.242 in his last 19 games and was charged with an error in last night’s contest. That was enough for the Yankees to decide mix things up for at least a little while, but Volpe suggested after the game to reporters (including Kuty) that he’ll be back in the lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Nationals after sitting out tomorrow as well.

For now, it seems like this time out of the lineup is just an opportunity for Volpe to reset amid a tough stretch both at the plate and in the field. With that said, it’s at least possible that the Yankees could be looking to get Caballero a bit more playing time. Since coming over from the Rays at this year’s trade deadline, Caballero has slashed .320/.433/.600 in 31 plate appearances across 14 games with the organization. While Caballero is generally regarded as a below-average hitter overall, that recent hot streak in conjunction with his fairly well-regarded glove and impressive speed on the basepaths could be enough to earn the soon to be 29-year-old infielder some more playing time down the stretch, particularly if Volpe’s struggles continue.

On the pitching side of things, Hoch reports that the Yankees are poised to get some reinforcements tomorrow when right-hander Fernando Cruz is activated from the injured list. Cruz has been sidelined due to an oblique strain for nearly two months, but the 35-year-old had looked nothing short of excellent over the season’s first half with a 3.00 ERA, 2.48 FIP, and an eye-popping 41.2% strikeout rate in 33 innings of work prior to the injury. If Cruz looks anything like that upon his return, he should be a massive asset to a Yankees bullpen that has struggled somewhat despite the aggressive addition of reinforcements at this summer’s trade deadline. David Bednar, Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, and Camilo Doval have all taken turns in save situations but each has looked shaky of late, leaving plenty of opportunity for Cruz to fashion a key role for himself upon his return.

Yankees Sign Paul Blackburn

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The Yankees announced that they have signed right-hander Paul Blackburn, with fellow righty Allan Winans optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre as the corresponding move. The Yanks have had an open 40-man spot since JT Brubaker was designated for assignment earlier this month. Tim Healey of The Boston Globe first noted that Blackburn was in the Yankee clubhouse. Blackburn tells Chris Kirschner of The Athletic that he expects to work out of the bullpen.

Blackburn has been having an injury-marred season but he is currently healthy and stretched out. About a month ago, he started a rehab assignment while on the Mets’ injured list due to a shoulder impingement. From July 22nd to August 8th, he made four rehab appearances, each lasting at least five innings. He didn’t allow more than two earned runs in any of them.

The Mets didn’t really have a rotation spot for him, so they reinstated him from the IL and put him in the bullpen. On August 13th, he tossed five innings of long relief against Atlanta, allowing two earned runs. Despite that generally solid run of results, the Mets designated Blackburn for assignment when they promoted prospect Nolan McLean on Saturday. Blackburn then cleared release waivers, allowing him to sign this deal with the Yankees.

Since he has been released, that also means he is essentially free for the Yanks. The Mets remain on the hook for the majority of his salary. The Yankees only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for the time he spends on the roster. That amount will be subtracted from what the Mets pay.

The Yankees currently have a rotation consisting of Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Luis Gil, Will Warren and Cam Schlittler, so Blackburn will slide into a long relief role. Though he’s been hurt for most of 2025 and has a 6.85 earned run average, he has past major league success. From 2022 to 2024, he tossed a combined 290 1/3 innings with a 4.43 earned run average, 20.2% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate and 44.8% ground ball rate. As mentioned, he’s been getting decent results lately and is cheap.

Photo courtesy of Jason Parkhurst, Imagn Images

Jonathan Loaisiga Headed For Second Opinion With Likely Flexor Strain

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Jonathan Loáisiga appears to be in for another significant absence. Yankees manager Aaron Boone tells reporters (including Brendan Kuty of The Athletic) that the oft-injured reliever is believed to have suffered a flexor strain. A more specific diagnosis and treatment plan will be known after the righty goes for a second opinion.

Loáisiga was already on the 15-day injured list due to mid-back tightness. That was a relatively minor issue, and the Yanks sent him on a rehab assignment after just two weeks on the shelf. He sustained the more significant forearm injury during an appearance with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre over the weekend. It’s now difficult to imagine Loáisiga pitching again this season. Depending on the results of the second opinion, it’s possible his ’26 season could be impacted.

Arm injuries are unfortunately nothing new for Loáisiga. He lost most of last season to a flexor repair that kept him from making his season debut until May. Loáisiga had previously undergone a full Tommy John surgery while he was in the minor leagues. He’d spent time on the IL with shoulder problems in 2019, 2021 and ’22. A pair of elbow-related IL stints kept him to 17 games in 2023.

Loáisiga has generally been effective when he has been healthy enough to pitch. That hasn’t so much been the case this year. He carries a 4.25 earned run average through 29 2/3 innings. He has only fanned 18.5% of opponents while giving up more than two home runs per nine innings. It might’ve put him on the fringe of the Yankees’ playoff roster had he been healthy, assuming the team gets to the postseason.

The Yankees hold a $5MM option on Loáisiga for next season. His inconsistent performance made it look likelier than they’d decline that even if he were healthy. A season-ending forearm injury would make it a formality that the team cuts him loose at the beginning of the winter.

Latest On Aaron Judge’s Flexor Strain

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Aaron Judge is currently limited to DH-only duties after he was briefly sidelined by a right flexor strain last month. He’s still hitting a solid .229/.426/.429 in 11 games since coming off the injured list, but manager Aaron Boone cast some doubt on his ability to return to full strength this year when it comes to throwing yesterday. As noted by The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner, Boone said in both a radio appearance on WFAN and an appearance on Jomboy Media’s Talkin’ Yanks podcast that Judge may not be “throwing like normal” again this year.

Notably, Boone did not say that Judge won’t throw again this year. On Talkin’ Yanks, Boone suggested that Judge will probably need “to play with a little bit of a governor” on his throws before adding that he won’t return to the field until he can throw safely. Kirschner adds that Boone went on to suggest that his comments may have been “a little” overstated, while Judge challenged his manager’s framing of the situation by noting that Boone hadn’t seen him throw in two weeks before adding that he’s “pretty confident” he’ll get back to throwing at full strength this year. At the same time, Judge emphasized that he’s going to “be smart about it” in order to ensure he doesn’t aggravate his ailing elbow and miss more time than his initial ten-day stint on the shelf.

Judge’s injury has forced the Yankees into a difficult balancing act. Any day where the reigning AL MVP can’t hit for the Yankees is a crushing blow, so giving him as long as he might need to act as a pure DH and rest his elbow makes plenty of sense. At the same time, Giancarlo Stanton has been incredibly productive (hitting .299/.377/.576) in 44 games since returning from the injured list earlier this year. A laundry list of past injuries and the likelihood that playing the field could cause additional wear and tear on Stanton’s body has essentially made him into a full-time DH of late, and his recent appearances in right field while Judge has been forced into the DH slot have been his first outings on the grass since 2023.

Stanton has not appeared in more than 38 games in the outfield since 2018, suggesting that playing Stanton in the field can’t be viewed as more than a short-term solution. With Stanton hitting well and unlikely to be able to handle regular outfield work for long, the Yankees will be better off the sooner Judge can return to the field—so long as Judge doesn’t cause himself to miss time by doing so. The change has also caused Ben Rice to get more starts behind the plate in order to allow both him and Paul Goldschmidt to stay in the lineup on a regular basis, cutting the playing time of Austin Wells. Of course, Wells has struggled at the plate recently with a .119/.172/.186 slash line since the All-Star break, so he may well have been in line to lose some playing time even before Judge took over at DH.

While the club waits for Judge to be healthy enough to play the field, they’re locked in a tight playoff race. The Blue Jays have opened up a five game lead over New York to take control of the AL East, but the Yankees are just one game ahead of the Red Sox and Mariners among the AL’s Wild Card teams, with Kansas City lurking just 2.5 games back of a playoff spot and Cleveland only three games out. The final few weeks of the season will be crucial as those five clubs vie for their league’s three Wild Card spots, and if the playoff race tightens further that will only give further importance to the Yankees’ decision-making going forward regarding Judge and Stanton.

Yankees Re-Sign Andrew Velazquez

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The Yankees have signed infielder Andrew Velazquez to a new minor league contract, according to his MLB.com profile page.  Velazquez was released from his previous minors deal on August 3, and he’ll now return to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after testing the open market.

A veteran of six MLB seasons, Velazquez hit .189/.244/.293 over 624 plate appearances and 275 games with five different teams from 2018-23.  Most of his playing time (179 games) came with the Angels during the 22-23 seasons, and Velazquez had close to a starting role as the Halos’ shortstop in the 2022 campaign.  His time in Los Angeles ended when he was claimed off waivers by the Braves in September 2023, and Velazquez hasn’t been back to the majors since, playing with Atlanta’s Triple-A team in 2024 and then spending all of 2025 in SWB.

This latest contract represents the fourth time Velazquez has signed with the Yankees, and the Bronx native saw some big league action with his hometown team in the form of 28 games in the pinstripes in 2021.  While the local flavor doesn’t hurt, Velasquez is a known quantity to the New York organization who can provide defensive versatility even if he doesn’t offer much at the plate.  Velasquez has primarily played shortstop during his career, but he has a lot of experience at second base, third base, and all three outfield positions (primarily center).  His work on the grass this year has been limited to a single appearance in center field, indicating that the Yankees view him as an emergency outfielder at best.

Yankees Sign Rob Brantly To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees have signed veteran catcher Rob Brantly to a minor league deal, per an announcement from their Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre affiliate. He’ll return to the Yankees organization and provide some depth behind the plate.

The 36-year-old Brantly was with the Marlins for most of the season. He signed a minor league deal with Miami in the winter, was selected to the major league roster in April and wound up spending a couple months on the 60-day injured list after suffering a lat strain during his brief call-up. He tallied a trio of singles in seven at-bats during his limited time with the big league club and has slashed .359/.390/.590 in a tiny sample of 41 plate appearances with the Marlins’ Triple-A club in Jacksonville this year.

Brantly has appeared in parts of 10 big league seasons but hasn’t topped 36 MLB plate appearances in a given year since 2013. He’s a .226/.286/.323 hitter in 472 big league plate appearances and has played in parts of 13 Triple-A seasons with more than 2700 plate appearances to his credit. He saw brief MLB time with the Yankees in 2021-22 and had a generally productive two years in Triple-A with the Yankees organization in that time.

The Yankees are set at catcher in the majors, with Austin Wells, J.C. Escarra and Ben Rice all on the roster. They traded catching prospects Rafael Flores and Jesus Rodriguez in respective deals to bring David Bednar and Camilo Doval into the bullpen. Brantly will help to replenish some of that lost upper-level catching depth.

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