The Yankees and right-hander Geoff Hartlieb are in settlement on a minor league deal, as famous within the transactions tracker on Hartlieb’s MLB.com profile web page. The deal presumably consists of an invitation to large league Spring Coaching subsequent 12 months.
Hartlieb, 31 in December, bought his begin in professional ball as a Twenty ninth-round decide by the Pirates within the 2016 draft. The righty made a reasonably speedy ascent up the minor league ladder with a purpose to debut with the Pirates throughout the 2019 season. The then-25-year-old Hartlieb struggled badly in his first style of huge league motion as he surrendered a 9.00 ERA in 35 innings of labor throughout his rookie 12 months, thanks primarily to a ten.5% stroll charge and a whopping eight house runs surrendered throughout that point. Issues appeared to show round for the right-hander throughout the shortened 2020 marketing campaign as he settled in on the large league stage and posted a stable 3.63 ERA in 22 1/3 innings of labor, however a glance underneath the hood revealed that Hartlieb walked as many hitters (19) as he struck out that 12 months.
Within the years since then, Hartlieb hasn’t gotten very a lot taking part in time on the large league stage. He’s appeared within the majors throughout the 2021, ’23, and ’24 seasons however has mixed for a complete of simply 22 innings throughout that point, posting an 8.59 ERA with a 17.3% strikeout charge in opposition to a 16.4% stroll charge throughout stints with the Pirates, Mets, Marlins, and Rockies. Colorado was his most up-to-date cease, and he surrendered ten runs (9 earned) whereas putting out seven and strolling 4 in 9 innings of labor for the membership this 12 months earlier than being outrighted off the membership’s roster again in June.
Regardless of his lackluster leads to the majors, the right-hander has regarded stable sufficient at Triple-A all through his profession with a 4.30 ERA and a 24.8% strikeout charge throughout 226 profession innings on the stage. His management leaves one thing to be desired even at that stage, nevertheless, as he’s surrendered free passes to 10% of his Triple-A opponents over time. For a Yankees membership that’s at present taking part in within the World Collection, the addition of Hartlieb is much from an apparent needle-mover. With that being mentioned, nevertheless, the membership’s bullpen has generated usually spectacular outcomes by using gamers like Luke Weaver, Tim Hill, and Ian Hamilton who hadn’t been capable of finding constant success on the large league stage previous to becoming a member of the membership.
Given the membership’s stable monitor document of turning the castoffs of different organizations into high quality large league contributors lately, it’s straightforward to see why the Yankees may suppose they may flip Hartlieb and his 97.3 mph heater right into a respectable large league weapon. Unearthing one other hidden gem for the bullpen this winter may very well be extraordinarily useful for the membership given the approaching free companies of Hill, Tommy Kahnle, and Clay Holmes. Every of these arms have been a significant a part of the membership’s success this 12 months, with Holmes particularly serving because the membership’s nearer within the early a part of the season earlier than being changed within the position by Weaver down the stretch.
