Yankees Activate JT Brubaker

Bad, Bad Luck

In April of 2023, Brubaker underwent Tommy John surgery to repair his UCL after a few average seasons in Pittsburgh. After missing the entirety of 2023 and ’24 whilst in recovery, he then sustained three broken ribs while pitching in a Spring Training game this past February. This required 3 more months of recovery, but now Brubaker is finally ready to pitch in a live game once again.

Starter to Long Reliever

With the Yankees’ rotation more than full right now, even with other injuries to multiple starters, Brubaker will likely see a lot of innings out of the bullpen. Another reason for this is to give his arm time to become accustomed to pitching in live games once again, a necessary precaution being that he hasn’t thrown a single pitch since 2022.

This move will give a lot of leverage to both New York’s rotation and bullpen; with reliever-turned-starter Ryan Yarbrough moving out of the ‘pen, Brubaker can slip into the role of the Yankees’ primary long reliever. He could also take over games in the case of the occasional blowup start, which will be huge in terms of saving other bullpen arms.

Back at Last

Having thrown just 315 2/3 innings with a 4.99 ERA in the 5 years since his 2020 debut, Brubaker will be looking not only to get back on the mound (which at this point is a huge accomplishment in itself) but to excel while doing so. Relegated to a bullpen role for the time being, perhaps the right-hander will end up becoming another key cog in the Yankees’ ever-changing bullpen machine.