New York Yankees News: Yankees Release Kyle Roller

The Yankees have been very busy with roster transactions as of late – but their latest move came as a bit of a surprise.

According to Baseball America, the New York Yankees have released slugger first baseman Kyle Roller, allowing the left-hander to become a free agent this winter.

Not only was the 27-year old Roller the all-time Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders leader in home runs (31) and RBI (110), but he was also a staple of power in the Yankees minors since 2010. From the time he was drafted to now, Roller has launched a total of 96 home runs and 375 RBI across five different teams, from the Staten Island Yankees all the way on up to Scranton.

Roller, who was selected in the eighth round of the 2010 amateur draft out of East Carolina University – looked like he was on the cusp of a major league call up in 2014 when he was promoted to AAA in May. He wen’t on to bat .283 with 17 homers and 51 RBI. Unfortunately, he took a step backwards in 2015, and despite hitting .308 in April, he finished the season with a .232 average with just 14 homers and 59 RBI in an entire year at AAA.

Of course the promotion of first-base Gregory Bird and his emergence in the second half of the 2015 season didn’t help Kyle Roller’s case out one bit, but hey, that’s baseball.

Hopefully Kyle Roller can find himself a new opportunity with a new ball club in 2016.

New York Yankees News: Yankees Release Kyle Roller

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