Yankees reliever gets national spotlight after injury nightmare spreads to Futures Game

For everyone tuning in to the Futures Game hoping to see a generational heater that might end up with a spot in the Yankees' second-half bullpen, Carlos Lagrange is no longer participating ... but you might be able to see that anyway.

The injury disaster that the 2026 Yankees' season has become spread to the ranks of the Futures Game roster — because of course it did! — with Lagrange going down with a six-week no-throw shoulder concern, and George Lombard Jr. remaining shelved with a supposedly minor injury (but not minor enough to allow him to show off).

That means a surprising Yankees candidate has been swapped in and will be the only pinstriper strutting his stuff on Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park: reliever Ben Grable, who was an 11th-round selection out of Indiana last summer, and may be only a fingernail away from a Triple-A call-up.

Sunday will be his first genuine showcase on a major stage after graduating from High-A Hudson Valley this spring after just 7 2/3 ridiculous innings. Since his promotion, he's struck out 32 men in 23 1/3 frames in the Eastern League, sporting a 3.09 ERA and just a .134 batting average against. He's the latest flash in a long lineage of electric Yankees mid-round picks, and he might just be the one with the highest MLB impact potential (especially after the Lagrange experiment flopped).

Yankees' Ben Grable will toe big-league rubber at Futures Game ... and then maybe again in August?

Let's face it. The Yankees need an internal spark for their bullpen picture, as well as several external ones. While they were trying to manufacture a reliever out of Lagrange mid-season, Grable sliding into the MLB 'pen would be a much more natural fit without any of the constructive grunt work. All the Yankees have to do now is hope he continues at his current steady pace and that someone on their 40-man roster becomes expendable (I think we can find some fat to trim there). Expect another modest roster overhaul like we saw at last year's trade deadline.

Grable's big-league journey began on Opening Day, but the Futures Game nod — no matter how he received it — represents the inflection point where his potential stretch-run contributions become very real. Hopefully, he takes the opportunity and runs with it on Sunday. We'll all be watching as first pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. ET.

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