The Yankees announced today that right-hander JT Brubaker has been released. The Yanks had designated him for assignment earlier this week. He has over five years of big league service time, meaning he could have rejected an outright assignment while keeping his $1.82MM salary intact. The Yanks have skipped that formality and sent him to the open market.
The Yanks will remain on the hook for the remainder of that salary. Another club could sign Brubaker and would only have to pay him the prorated version of the $760K league minimum salary. Anything paid by another club would be subtracted from the Yankees’ commitments.
Brubaker, 31, is a few years removed from his best big league work. From 2020 to 2022, he tossed 315 1/3 innings for the Pirates, primarily as a starter. In that time, he had a 4.99 earned run average, though he probably deserved better. His 23.3% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 44% ground ball rate were all around league average. His .313 batting average on balls in play and 16.3% home run to fly ball rate were both on the unfortunate side. His 4.43 FIP and 4.04 SIERA suggested he could have been better than his ERA indicated.
In April of 2023, he required Tommy John surgery, wiping out that entire season. The Yanks took a chance on him, acquiring him from the Pirates around Opening Day of 2024. They sent Keiner Delgado as the player to be named later, getting Brubaker and international bonus pool space. The Yanks were likely hoping for some contributions in the second half of that year but Brubaker suffered an oblique strain while rehabbing in July and didn’t pitch for them that year.
The Yanks tendered him a contract for 2025 but the injury bug was again a problem. During a spring training contest, Brubaker was hit by a comebacker and fractured three ribs. He came off the IL in mid-June and was used in a long relief role. He tossed 16 innings over 12 appearances for the Yankees with a 3.38 ERA. His 44.2% ground ball rate was still decent but his 15.9% strikeout rate and 14.3% walk rate were not great.
The past few years have obviously been a struggle but Brubaker has been a good major league pitcher in the past and is essentially free now that he’s been released. He should be receiving a few calls in the coming days.
Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images