NEW YORK — The Yankees’ bullpen has been at the center of the slide.
For weeks, the Yankees believed help was already in the system. A 6-foot-7 right-hander with a fastball that has touched 103 mph was being groomed at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for exactly this kind of moment.
That arm belongs to Carlos Lagrange, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 4 prospect in the Yankees organization and No. 85 overall. The 23-year-old rookie moved from the rotation to the bullpen in early June so he could reach the Bronx before the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
That plan is now on hold. The RailRiders placed Lagrange on the seven-day injured list Thursday with a shoulder injury, and an MRI has been scheduled.
What the Yankees know about the injury so far
The short answer is very little. Triple-A clubs are not required to disclose injury details, and the minor league system carries only a seven-day and a 60-day injured list. The designation itself reveals nothing about severity.
The MRI will set the timeline. Until the imaging comes back, the Yankees cannot say whether Lagrange is facing a brief reset or a lost summer. Shoulder trouble in a young power pitcher tends to make front offices nervous for a reason. The range of outcomes is wide.
There were hints of trouble in his final outing for the Yankees’ top affiliate. Lagrange last pitched June 28, working on two days’ rest for the second time in the month. He recorded two outs and allowed five runs on four hits and two walks, according to the New York Post. His fastball averaged 98.8 mph in the 20-pitch appearance and topped out at 100.9 mph. Both numbers sat well below the 103 mph he has reached this year.
It was his seventh relief appearance since the switch. The Yankees had been carefully scaling down his workload throughout June to prepare him for shorter stints.
A shoulder issue for a 100 mph arm is always treated carefully because it can affect command, recovery and durability. For the Yankees, the bigger damage is strategic. Lagrange was not just another Triple-A arm. He was one of the few internal pitchers with the raw stuff to change the bullpen’s look without a trade. The Yankees had been scaling down his workload and testing him in relief, but the shoulder injury now forces the front office back toward safer short-term options, trade-market help or another internal arm.
Boone saw a pitcher who could change the season
Lagrange forced his way into the conversation in spring training, when he struck out three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge on three pitches and finished the at-bat with a 102.6 mph fastball. The moment turned a raw arm into one of the most watched names in the Yankees system.
Manager Aaron Boone was asked last month about the right-hander’s rise. His answer made clear the Yankees viewed Lagrange as more than a spring curiosity.
“The exciting thing for me was really being around him for the first time day by day (in spring training),” Boone said. “Seeing in person the competitor, how he works, and who he is. (All of that), coupled with — in spring training, you love to see a young guy go out there and perform and do well and relish the competition. So, there’s a lot of positives there. I think we all had the thought of maybe he could impact us in some way, shape or form throughout the year.”
The numbers behind the bullpen experiment
Lagrange opened the season as a starter for the RailRiders. He posted a 4.41 ERA with a 1.33 WHIP, 63 strikeouts and 25 walks across 49 innings before the Yankees shifted him to relief, according to FanGraphs data cited by Empire Sports Media. The stuff was loud. The command lagged behind it.
The conversion started well. Lagrange allowed three earned runs over his first six relief appearances and picked up the first save of his minor league career late in June. The June 28 blowup pushed his relief ERA to 5.02 for the month.
Overall, the rookie owns a 4.55 ERA in 18 Triple-A games this season with 83 strikeouts in 63 1/3 innings. His arsenal pairs the fastball with a slider, cutter and changeup.
The bullpen he was supposed to join keeps making the case for reinforcements. Camilo Doval, expected to be a key late-inning piece for the Yankees this season, carries a 4.96 ERA after Wednesday’s collapse. If the shoulder costs Lagrange significant time, the Yankees lose their cheapest path to a high-leverage arm. The front office may instead have to pay steeper prospect prices on the trade market before the deadline.
A crowded infirmary and a waiting game
Lagrange joins a Yankees injury list that already includes Judge, who is dealing with a stress fracture in the first rib on his right side, along with Max Fried, Giancarlo Stanton, Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil. Fellow prospect George Lombard Jr. has been out at Triple-A since June 18 with two sprained fingers.
Some relief is coming. Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon are expected to be activated Friday when the Yankees open a series against the Twins at Yankee Stadium.
Lagrange’s spot in the All-Star Futures Game is now in doubt as well. The seven-day designation leaves room for a quick return if the imaging shows nothing serious.
For now, the Yankees wait on a scan. The result will shape the Yankees’ bullpen, the deadline and the timeline of one of the loudest arms in the organization.
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