The New York Yankees announced ahead of their series against the New York Mets that they have reinstated Jonathan Loaisiga from the injury list. The hard-throwing reliever is one of the best in the Yankees’ bullpen when healthy, and he has been highly effective in his time at the Minor League level. In six rehab appearances with the Tampa Tarpons and Scranton RailRiders, Loaisiga had a 1.23 ERA with nine strikeouts and no walks.
His fastball looked crisp, sitting around 95-97 MPH with good movement while displaying a sinker, changeup, and curveball with sharp movement as well. With the bullpen struggling in recent weeks to hold onto leads, the Yankees needed this shot in the arm, and in response, they’ve designated Tyler Matzek for assignment.
Jonathan Loaisiga Makes Return, Yankees Cut Ties with Tyler Matzek
Since 2021, Jonathan Loaisiga has a 2.89 ERA and 3.16 FIP across 127 appearances, as the right-hander has been a groundball machine that can generate soft contact. When he’s on, he’s got four reliable pitches that he can use in any count, and the Yankees have helped him better use his pitches against right-handed hitters and left-handed hitters to get more outs.
Against left-handed batters, he’ll be very aggressive with his changeup and four-seam usage, and against right-handed batters, he’ll lean heavily on the sinkers and curveballs. The Yankees have done an excellent job finding and developing relievers before, and they know that when healthy, Jonathan Loaisiga is capable of being a highly effective late-inning option for Aaron Boone.
Injuries have held him back before, but now that he’s fully recovered from elbow surgery, he should be able to provide valuable innings in big spots. A veteran who hasn’t been as effective is Tyler Matzek, whom the team promptly DFA’d to create room on the roster for Jonathan Loaisiga.
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Tyler Matzek has posted a 4.26 ERA and 14.3% walk rate across his seven appearances with the Yankees, struggling to locate in the zone and being ineffective for the most part.
The Yankees needed to create room for Loaisiga, and while they could have sent down Yerry De Los Santos, he has been able to provide valuable innings as a groundball reliever who can throw strikes.
It seems that Yerry De Los Santos, who was in Triple-A and was only called up when Carlos Carrasco was DFA’d, has jumped Tyler Matzek in the depth chart. Clayton Beeter was also reinstated from the IL but was not promoted to the big leagues, another indication of their growing faith in the 27-year-old.