Yankees promote left-handed starter to fill out bullpen, send down rookie after debut

With the New York Yankees looking to shore up their bullpen, they’ve called upon Tanner Tully, a 29-year-old southpaw coming off of a pretty strong showing in Spring Training. He doesn’t have overpowering stuff, be he posted a 1.50 ERA across his three appearances with the Bronx Bombers, and the hope is that Tully can provide bulk innings if the bullpen needs it. The Yankees are opening their season with seven-straight games against the Houston Astros and Arizona Diamondbacks, and after two short outings from Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodon, bullpen depth is necessary.

Clayton Beeter might have been available for today’s game, but probably not to the extent where he could eat two or three innings. Instead of running with a shorter bullpen, they’ve opted to call up Tanner Tully, who has been a starter his whole career and is built up to help this team as a multi-inning weapon. He throws a four-seamer that sits about 88-90 MPH, with the vertical and horizontal movement not standing out much at all. His sweeping slider generates over 12 inches of horizontal movement at around 80 MPH, and the changeup is a pitch he can throw with good vertical separation off of his fastball.

You wouldn’t consider Tanner Tully to be an overpowering or high-upside arm, but he keeps hitters off balance and has excellent command, allowing him to eat up innings. The Yankees are likely to send him down after this stretch of games to open the season, especially considering that they have multiple avenues to open up a spot on their 40-man roster for someone else. If he were to impress however, they could keep him in the bullpen as the Yankees are taking a liking to these hybrid relievers who can also spot start or pitch 2-3 innings at a moment’s notice.

Last season in Triple-A the left-hander had a 5.64 ERA with a 4.84 FIP in Triple-A, although it should be noted that the average ERA in the International League was 5.18, so it doesn’t look as bad in comparison. His groundball rates weren’t excellent but he didn’t walk many batters and could reliably give you innings because of the command. If the Yankees wanted a safe innings eater, they certainly have it, but don’t expect many strikeouts or high-velocity pitches from his profile. It’s been two years since Tanner Tully last appeared in an MLB game, and he only has six innings of MLB experience, posting a 6.00 ERA in that short stint with the Cleveland Guardians.