Yankees silently activate underdog reliever from Triple-A injured list

We'll forgive you if you aren't cued in on the comings and goings of the New York Yankees' mysterious 7-day minor league injured list, but if you didn't refresh the page on Wednesday, you missed a pretty important potential addition to the big-league club.

When Tyler Matzek was brought into camp during the first few weeks of spring workouts, it very quickly became clear that the intention was for him to rise from the ranks of the NRIs onto the Yankees' MLB roster. Sometimes, teams bring in familiar faces with the intention of giving them one last try. And sometimes, teams bring in former impact big league players wholeheartedly believing that they'll play an important role immediately, pending health. Aaron Boone gushed about Matzek immediately. The category he fell into was obvious.

But ... "pending health" and all that, right? After a dominant first appearance, Matzek hit the shelf with an oblique issue, and quickly fell off any way-too-early roster projections. The last we heard from him before Opening Day was that the Yankees were hoping for a mid-April return as he worked through his progressions.

And ... would you look at that! Matzek reappeared on Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's active roster on Wednesday, and will now get to work at reestablishing himself as a potential back-end weapon in the Bronx. Brent Headrick, the left-hander who climbed up the depth chart in Matzek's wake, was recently demoted as part of one of the many Adam Ottavino-related shakeups in recent days.

Yankees relief rescue option Tyler Matzek activated from 7-day injured list at minor league level

Now, the real work begins for Matzek, who wasn't on anyone's radar until the day he arrived in camp, then was suddenly on everybody's. That's what happens when Aaron Boone starts heaping the praise on thick.

In Matzek's first outing on Wednesday, he peaked at 95.1 MPH, allowing two hits and hitting a batter in a pair of shutout frames. 18 of his 25 pitches were strikes. He whiffed three.

The Yankees' bullpen welcomed back Ian Hamilton in recent days, and will eventually have to accommodate Jonathan Loaisiga and Jake Cousins, too, though Cousins is on the 60-Day IL. There will be plenty more shuffling left to be sorted from here, with Clarke Schmidt returning to the rotation in the coming days.

Matzek will essentially need a full spring training, and it will still be quite a while until he's heard from at the big-league level. Still, his return to the mix is a highly promising sign that shouldn't go under the radar.