New York Yankees Have Another Potential Star Relief Pitcher in Bullpen

With Spring Training nearly here for the New York Yankees, the quest for their 28th Championship is starting soon.

It has been a very busy, but also successful offseason for the Yankees. They were able to add a lot of quality players this winter to hopefully help push them to the top in 2025.

One area where the team saw a bit of a shakeup was in the bullpen. New York decided to move on from Clay Holmes in the bullpen, who will now be attempting to transition into a starting pitcher with the New York Mets.

Replacing him in the back end of the bullpen is former All-Star closer, Devin Wiliams. The talented right-hander can be one of the best closers in the game when he’s healthy and the Yankees are certainly excited to see what he can do.

However, while the addition of the star closer was important, New York features a lot of other talented arms in their bullpen.

Brendan Kuty of The Athletic recently spoke about the pitching staff for the Yankees heading into the year. One pitcher that was mentioned with a lot of upside is 30-year-old reliever, Jonathan Loáisiga.

“The Yankees love the 30-year-old righty and gave him a one-year, $4.5-million deal this offseason. They saw a glimpse of how dominant he could be in 2021 when he had a 2.17 ERA in 57 games. But can he stay healthy?”

As shown by New York’s desire to keep him after barely pitching the last couple of years due to injury, the Yankees are very high on Loaisiga.

In 2021, the right-hander had his breakout season for New York. He totaled a (9-4) record, 2.17 ERA, and fanned 69 batters in 70.1 innings pitched.

Unfortunately for Loaisiga, injuries have kept him from replicating that great season for the Yankees. In 2024, he was only able to pitch in three games, and in 2023 it was only 17 appearances.

He will be coming back from a torn UCL in 2025 and there is a possibility that he won’t be ready for the start of the season depending on how he does in the final stretches of recovery.

While New York will certainly be careful with the 30-year-old, they will also likely expect him to be a key part of the bullpen in the second half of the year.

If Loaisiga can return and be healthy in the early part of the campaign, he’s got the potential to be a great weapon out of the bullpen for the Yankees.

The unit is currently looking strong with the recent re-signing of Tim Hill, but a healthy Loaisiga could take it to the next level.

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