Yankees Notebook: Nick Ramirez offers fresh, versatile bullpen arm
MINNESOTA — Nick Ramirez just left Minnesota with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate. On Tuesday, he returned to the North Star State as a member of the big league club.
The Yankees added Ramirez to their roster Tuesday when they optioned Greg Weissert to Triple-A. Ramirez, who played the St. Paul Saints with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Sunday, learned of his promotion at midnight. At that point, he was in Boston for a minor league series against the Worcester Red Sox, but a 5:30 a.m. car service began his trip back to Minnesota.
A cancelled Delta flight caused some “panic” Tuesday morning, but Ramirez ultimately made it to Target Field.
“I knew I was gonna get here. We had plenty of time,” the southpaw said. “My main concern was my baseball bag was under. So I asked them if they could pull it. They said ‘Yeah, we put the submission in, but no guarantees.’”
There was equipment in Ramirez’s locker when he spoke, so that worked out as well. Now the Yankees are hoping the 33-year-old can help their bullpen.
Ramirez owns a 4.55 ERA over 64 MLB games with the Tigers and Padres, and he hasn’t pitched in The Show since 2021. But the non-roster invitee impressed Aaron Boone during spring training — two poor outings inflated his ERA to 5.59 — and Ramirez got off to a hot start with the RailRiders.
He had 1.74 ERA over 10.1 innings pitched at Triple-A.
“We felt early on that there was a role there,” Boone said. “Not being on the [40-man] roster made it a little more challenging initially for him.”
Boone added that Ramirez may fill different roles. He could be used situationally against lefty hitters, but he’s also built up for multi-inning work.
“Whatever I can do to help, that’s what I’m gonna do,” Ramirez said.
TO THE TEE
Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring) is still several weeks away from returning, but the slugger has begun playing catch, soft tossing and hitting off a tee, per Boone.
“Making improvements,” the skipper said.
Carlos Rodon, meanwhile, played catch again Tuesday. The plan is for him to get on a mound Friday after a “barking” back delayed the southpaw’s timeline.
PRAISE FOR PIRATES
Most expected the Pirates to remain in the basement this season, but Pittsburgh (16-7) owned the best record in the National League entering Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, the team signed star centerfielder Bryan Reynolds to the largest contract in franchise history — thus taking the long-rumored Yankees’ trade target off the market — and manager Derek Shelton received an extension this past week.
Former Pirate and current Yankee Clay Holmes is happy to see the Buccos thriving.
“To see things finally turning, because obviously there was some rough years there, is cool. I’m happy for them,” said Holmes, who began his career with the Pirates in 2018. “It seems like they have a good core and some people they believe in.”
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