Another day, another new reliever.
The Yankees signed Ryan Weber to a major league contract and selected him to the active roster before Thursday’s series opener against the Rays. The team cleared space on its 40-man roster by moving Jonathan Loaisiga to the 60-day injured list.
Loaisiga recently underwent surgery to remove a bone spur in his elbow and isn’t expected back until at least August.
While Loaisiga is known for pumping gas, Weber’s fastball velocity ranks in the sixth percentile, per Baseball Savant.
“Not overpowering, but just has a really good feel to pitch,” Boone said of Weber. “Kind of got that slot and sinks the ball and can spin it. Change speeds on it. It’s kind of fun watching him. You don’t see a lot of guys like him anymore.”
Weber, a journeyman right-hander, made a strong impression on Boone last season when he recorded a 0.84 ERA over 10.2 major league innings for the Yankees. Weber has struggled as a starter at Triple-A this year, tallying a 5.77 ERA over 34.1 innings and seven starts.
But the Yankees are just looking for some mop-up length after already rotating Nick Ramirez, Greg Weissert and Deivi Garcia though their bullpen this week.
Weber can provide that.
“That’s a guy we feel comfortable with,” Boone said. “If we get in a rough situation, we know he can go out there and eat his way and figure his way out through an outing.”
SEVY’S NEXT STEP
Following a successful first rehab outing on Wednesday, the plan is for Luis Severino (lat) to throw around 60 pitches in his second rehab start on Tuesday. Boone didn’t rule out activating the right-hander after that, though that doesn’t mean the Yankees will.
Severino has expressed hope that he’ll only need two starts before joining the Yankees’ rotation.
OTHER INJURY UPDATES
Aaron Hicks (hip) had some imaging done before Thursday’s game. The Yankees didn’t have results when Boone spoke, but Hicks went through his pregame routine.
Tommy Kahnle (bicep tendinitis) threw to hitters Thursday. He could throw another live session before starting his rehab assignment, per Boone.
The manager also said he has a vague target date in mind for Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring) to begin a rehab assignment, but Boone didn’t want to reveal it. “Let’s just see how this week and next week goes,” Boone said. Stanton ran on Thursday.
Boone also hopes that Josh Donaldson (hamstring) can start a rehab assignment next week.