The Yankees added an experienced starter on Tuesday, signing Anthony DeSclafani to a minor league deal.
DeSclafani, a Freehold, N.J., native, was assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the team announced. It’s unclear how soon he’ll be able to suit up for the RailRiders, as the righty hasn’t pitched in a professional game since July 2023 due to elbow issues.
Flexor tendon surgery robbed DeSclafani of his 2024 season.
The 35-year-old has pitched for the Marlins, Reds and Giants across nine seasons, totaling a 54-56 record, 4.20 ERA, 251 walks, 830 strikeouts and 169 starts over 180 games and 942.2 innings. He posted his best season in 2021 with San Francisco, tying a career-high with 31 starts while setting personal bests with 13 wins and a 3.17 ERA.
DeSclafani most recently recorded a 4.88 ERA over 99.2 innings for the Giants in 2023.
In January 2024, San Francisco traded DeSclafani and Mitch Haniger to the Mariners for Robbie Ray. Seattle then flipped him to the Twins in a package that sent Jorge Polanco to the Mariners.
Surgery followed shortly after that, but the Yankees are now hoping that DeSclafani can provide some rotation depth should they need more of it.
They’ve needed more than they’d like thus far, as injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt had the Yankees down three starters prior to Opening Day. While Schmidt has since returned from some nagging spring training injuries, Cole won’t this season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and Gil isn’t expected back from a lat strain until at least mid-summer.
Marcus Stroman is out with a knee injury as well.
With so many injuries, the Yankees opened the season with Will Warren, a rookie, and Carlos Carrasco, a spring non-roster invitee, in their rotation. The struggling Carrasco was recently designated for assignment. He’s now at Triple-A, while Ryan Yarbrough has seemingly transitioned from longman reliever to starter for now.
With Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Warren and Schmidt all active, other depth options at Triple-A include Allan Winans and Brandon Leibrandt. Both have major league experience, though not nearly as much as Carrasco and DeSclafani.
