After they lost generational hitting talent Juan Soto to a record-setting free agent contract, the defending American League champion New York Yankees have worked diligently to build up their roster. The Yankees have added a former MVP in Cody Bellinger, and another one in Paul Goldschmidt.
The beefed up their starting pitching with left-hander Max Fried on an eight-year, $218 million deal, and traded for two-time All-Star closer Devin Williams.
And yet, the Yankees’ 2025 squad so far — specifically, the bullpen — still has one gaping hole. Nowhere on the big league roster or, for that matter, on the entire 40-man roster do the Yankees carry a left-handed relief pitcher.
Yankees Need a Solution to Get Lefties Out
After the 2024 season, the Yankees pitching staff took a hit with the departures of lefties Tim Hill and Tim Mayza, as well as right-hander Tommy Kahnle whose reliance on changing speeds has made him effective against lefty batters. During one stretch in the 2024 postseason, Kahnle threw 56 consecutive change-ups, and during the regular season he threw his change-up about 75 percent of the time.
How will Yankee relievers get left-handed batters out in 2025? Clearly, they are going to need at least one solid southpaw bullpen arm. The Yankees SB Nation blog Pinstripe Alley has a prediction of how the team might get one.
“One potential solution on the free agent market is A.J. Minter. Taken by Atlanta in the second round of the 2015 MLB Draft, the left-hander appeared in 384 regular season games with the Braves across the past eight seasons,” wrote Pinstripe Alley scribe Nick Power. “The 31-year-old features a four-seamer, a cutter, and a changeup. He throws his heater nearly half the time and deploys it against both lefties and righties. Sitting in the mid 90s, the pitch has been his most effective each of the past three seasons, in part due to Minter’s ability to generate more than an inch of rise above the average four-seamer through spin.”
Minter’s changeup has made him effective against both lefty and righty swingers. In fact, in his eight-year career Minter has allowed just a .286 on-base percentage and .316 slugging percentage to lefties compared to .303 and .364 to right-handed batters.
In Free Agency, Minter Comes Priced Economically
Minter would likely be an inexpensive catch for the Yankees, as well. The sports business site Spotrac projects his market value at a mere $5.4 million for a two-year contract. But other experts see that figure as overly stingy. They set the Tyler, Texas, native’s realistic price tag at more like $16 million over four years.
Minter also brings a characteristic of great importance to the Yankees who will be seeking the legendary franchise’s record 28th World Series championship, but first since 2009. The hurler has already pitched 25 innings in 20 postseason games.
He was the winning pitcher in the opening game of the 2021 World Series, which the Atlanta Braves went on to win in six games over the Houston Astros. In his total of nine postseason series, all with the Braves, he has posted a 2.88 ERA with 36 strikeouts against just eight walks and 17 base hits. Minter has surrendered just two postseason home runs, both coming in the NLCS of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, when the Braves narrowly fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3.
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. Vankin is also the author of five nonfiction books on a variety of topics, as well as nine graphic novels including most recently “Last of the Gladiators” published by Dynamite Entertainment. More about Jonathan Vankin
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