Yankees add another weapon to their bullpen in Jonathan Loaisiga

Rookie right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga is back with the Yankees after he was one of four September call-ups added to the 40-man roster this past weekend. Moving forward it appears he will be pitching out of relief after he excelled in that role on Monday over two dominant scoreless innings.

The last time we saw the Loaisiga, (the Yankees third best prospect) was back in June when he made four impressive starts in place of an injured Masahiro Tanaka. He made his big league debut on June 15th and went 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA and 21 strikeouts during his stay before he was sent down back to Double-A once Tanaka returned to the rotation.

While in the minors Loaisiga was shut down for three weeks with shoulder inflammation and didn’t return to the mound until August 11. He made three appearances for Trenton and threw the ball well enough to warrant a September call-up. Now that he’s back he could be an option as a spot starter in the rotation if needed but for the time being, he’ll pitch out of the bullpen where he has a chance to be a big weapon based off his outing on Monday.

Loaisiga was one of the lone bright spots in the Yankees 6-3 loss to open their important series in Oakland as he pitched two scoreless innings and struck out four on only 25 pitches. Against one of the best offenses in baseball, the rookie was in full attack mode showcasing a 95-96 mph fastball and a wipeout slider to navigate rather easily through Oakland’s lineup.

He struck out the side in the seventh in his first inning of work facing Khris Davis, Stephen Piscotty, and Matt Olson. He used his fastball to get both Davis and Olson swinging for strike three and had Piscotty chasing a slider in the dirt to finish him off on only three pitches.

In the eighth, he made quick work of Oakland’s bottom of the order with the only baserunner coming on a bloop double off the bat of Jonathan Lucroy. Other than that Loaisiga was outstanding. After the game skipper, Aaron Boone talked about the impressive outing and how it could lead to a more high leverage role down the stretch. Per Brendan Kuty of NJ.com:

"“So, I mean, you’re talking about a guy who is obviously here that can give us length and we’ve seen flashes of him obviously early in the year when he came up as a starter and pitched well,” Boone said. “But if guys go out and deliver the kind of goods he did (Monday), he was dominant for two innings, and you start, as this month unfolds, there’s opportunities to earn a more significant, a larger role, and maybe not just length.”"

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Now that we’ve hit September the Yankees would be wise to give Loasiga more opportunities to earn a larger role especially with how the bullpen has pitched lately. With Aroldis Chapman out this Yankee bullpen is not dominating like its capable of as multiple guys are really struggling to pitch with any consistency.

The first name that comes to mind is long man A.J Cole who has not pitched nearly as well (5.71 second-half ERA) as he did in the first half after the Yankees acquired him in late April. During Monday’s loss, Cole gave up his fifth home run since the All-Star break as he continues to regress back to the pitcher he was with the Nationals before he became a Yankee.

Cole has been a nice story this season, but he doesn’t provide nearly the kind of stuff or upside Loaisiga does and moving forward it wouldn’t surprise me if we see the ladder take over as the first long man out of the pen.

The Yankees could also opt to use Loasiga in middle relief as another setup man to hold a lead for whoever is closing in the ninth. The Yankees pen is so deep with great setup men that they don’t really need Loaisiga to pitch in that role but with his stuff, he has a chance to be as good as any of them. His slider, fastball combo gives him the tools to succeed over the course of an inning or two because he can rear back and attack instead of throwing the repertoire of pitches he uses as a starter.

The main thing he gives the Yankees and Aaron Boone is another option for the stretch run and one with the potential to earn a spot on the postseason roster. In the long term he projects to be a part of the starting rotation for years to come, but right now he’ll be the most useful out of the bullpen.

Monday was just the start of Loaisiga’s month-long audition to earn a playoff roster spot but he passed his first test with flying colors and in the coming weeks, he’s certainly a weapon to keep an eye on.