New York Yankees successfully convert former Toronto Blue Jays reliever into starter

Back in spring training, Yarbrough was poised to break camp as a long-man a role he excelled in after arriving via trade midseason in 2024, or so we thought.

Instead, the 33-year-old was granted his release shortly after triggering the opt-out clause in his contract, making him a free agent.

The decision to part ways with Yarbrough was a head scratcher for many reasons, the first of which was that he had pitched so well in his first stint last season, earning a 2.01 ERA with 26 strikeouts across 12 relief appearances. The decision to bring the the 6 foot 5, left-handed reliever back seemed like a no brainer.

Within just hours of becoming a free agent the Yankees quickly snatched up Yarbrough signing him to a 1-year $2 million contract with incentives.

There's no question the Blue Jays misjudged this situation at the time. They felt there wasn't a spot on the 26-man roster for Yarbrough heading into the 2025 campaign.

But now, after completing one-third of the schedule, with Scherzer still working his way back from injury and the team having already cycled through several arms in the fifth starter's spot, they probably wish they could have a do-over.

Yarbrough now has transitioned to a starting role for the Yankees, making his first of four starts on May 3 in place of Clarke Schmidt, who was scratched due to injury. And he's kept his starter's job ever since.

Yarbrough's first start with the Bronx Bombers wasn't anything special. He walked three over four innings but only allowed a run on one hit while striking out a pair. His next time out was more of the same, tossing five innings of two-run ball on six hits and a walk with two punchouts.

The last two, though, have been nothing short of dominant.

It's been a massive swing-and-miss display lately, as Yarbrough has racked up 15 combined strikeouts in 11 innings, allowing one run in each start and only one total free pass.

It is worth noting that Yarbrough's four starts have come against some of the weaker-hitting lineups in the majors, facing the Tampa Bay Rays, Athletics, Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels.

At the same time, he isn't the same pitcher he was during his lone stint with the Blue Jays last year.

Since joining the Yankees, pitching coach Matt Blake has gone to work with the now-converted starter, making a few tweaks to his pitch usage, essentially shelving his four-seamer for more cutters.

With Toronto, Yarbrough's cutter was essentially an afterthought, as he only threw 10 during the final two months of the '24 campaign.

This season, however, it's become his second-most-used pitch versus righties, throwing it a third of the time.

He's also upped the usage of his changeup in those matchups, becoming more of a cutter-changeup pitcher while mixing in his sinker, sweeper and four-seamer.

As the Blue Jays, who'll host the Yankees in Toronto for a four-game set starting on June 30th watch from afar, you can't help but wonder how their search for a viable fifth starter may have been impacted had they held onto Yarbrough rather than pushing him into the arms of one of their AL East rivals.

Did the Toronto Blue Jays make a mistake releasing Ryan Yarbrough this spring?

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