Yankees move Justus Sheffield to the bullpen at Triple-A

Yankees top prospect Justus Sheffield is getting closer to making his big league debut and when he gets the call the plan is to use him out of the bullpen.

Sheffield projects to be a future stud in the Yankees rotation but on Tuesday he was scratched from his scheduled start and moved to the bullpen at Triple-A Scranton. Sheffield pitched two innings in relief and the plan is for him to continue to pitch out of the pen in preparation for a big league call-up once rosters expand in September.

The decision to shift the 22-year old left-hander to the pen is a smart move by the Yankees, especially with their bullpen a little banged up right now at the back end. David Robertson was unavailable to pitch during Tuesday’s 2-1 win over the Marlins because of shoulder soreness and Aroldis Chapman left the game with left knee pain just six pitches into his outing.

Robertson said after the game that he’s been dealing with the soreness for a couple days now but he doesn’t think it’s serious and should be able to pitch today if needed. As for Chapman, there’s less optimism that he will be okay because this is the same knee with tendinitis that’s given him issues for months. He’s been pitching through pain for a while now but last night the pain was bad enough to make him call for the trainers and leave the game.

He’ll take an MRI today but it seems like a 10-day DL stint is possible and if it’s not it should be. Chapman is so important to this team and the more he pitches through the pain the worse that knee is going to get so he can use a 10-14 day break.

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The Yankees have Zach Britton or Dellin Betances ready to take over as the closer so they can afford to give Chapman the rest he needs. That way he can recover and come back stronger for the stretch run and the postseason.

Once Sheffield makes his debut he would give the Yankees pen another lefty and a guy who can pitch multiple innings. They could really use his power arm out of the pen in long relief because lately, their other two long men (Sonny Gray and AJ Cole) haven’t been very reliable.

Sheffield will get a couple more outings at Scranton to get himself acclimated to pitching out of the pen but it sounds like the Yankees have high hopes for him according to Aaron Boone. Here’s Boone on Sheffield following Tuesday’s win per Randy Miller of NJ.com:

“We think obviously there’s some great value that he can bring in our bullpen towards the end of his season and our season.”

One thing that will make Sheffield extra valuable is his ability to get out lefties. This season he’s held lefty hitters to a .160 AVG compared to a .224 clip against righties. If he’s not brought into a game to give the team some innings he could also be used in a late-game situation just to get a lefty out to escape a jam.

That’s something the Yankees have lacked in their pen all season so Sheffield could really be a nice weapon for them and they could pick their spots when to use him.

Sheffield will go back to being a starter in 2019 and beyond but for now, a move to the pen is a win-win for him and the Yankees. He wasn’t going to start in the big leagues in September because they want to limit his innings, but he’ll still get to make his major league debut this season and have an opportunity to make a big impact.

We’ll have to wait and see how he adapts to the role, but with his stuff, he should be just fine and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he earns a spot on the postseason roster come October.