The Yankees are going to select the contract of left-hander Anthony Misiewicz, reports Joel Sherman of The New York Post on X. The club has a vacancy on its 40-man roster but is also planning to select catcher/first baseman Ben Rice and activate righty Gerrit Cole from the injured list tomorrow, so further moves are likely coming, both for the 40-man and active rosters.
Misiewicz, 29, pitched five innings for the Yankees last year as well and has totaled 114 2/3 big league frames between five clubs, dating back to his 2020 MLB debut. After pitching to a respectable 4.43 ERA with a 23.9% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate through his first 103 big league innings, however, he was roughed up for a 7.36 ERA in last year’s small sample of work.
The Yankees clearly saw plenty they liked in Misiewicz last year, even with those rocky big league results, as they brought him back on a minor league deal. He’s had a nice start to the season pitching in Triple-A, where he’s thrown 30 2/3 frames of 3.23 ERA ball while recording a hefty 29.4% strikeout rate against a 7.9% walk rate. He’s also kept the ball on the ground at a sharp 46.8% clip and yielded just two homers (0.59 HR/9).
Caleb Ferguson and Victor Gonzalez are the only two lefties in the Yankees’ bullpen at the moment. The former has struggled to an ERA north of 5.00, while the latter sports a 3.05 ERA but has walked more batters than he’s struck out. The Yankees are known to be on the lookout for bullpen help as next month’s trade deadline looms, with a lefty specifically among their reported targets.
For now, the journeyman Misiewicz will get a look to see if he can pitch his way into a more prominent role and lessen the urgency the front office feels in its search for competent left-handed bullpen arms. If Misiewicz is given an actual opportunity that he runs with — and not just designated tomorrow to make room for Cole — he’d be arbitration-eligible this offseason and controllable for three more years beyond the current season.