Who is Zach Greene, the newest relief pitcher to join the Yankees?

RHP Zach Greene is rejoining the Yankees, according to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. A Rule 5 draft pick in 2022 and currently has a 13.50 ERA in the Grapefruit League, Greene was let go by the Mets early this week. On Tuesday, he signed with the Yankees for $50,000 after clearing waivers.

In 2019, the Yankees picked Zach Greene out of South Alabama in the eighth round. The 6-foot-1 prospect pitched for six seasons in pinstripes and has a career ERA of 3.08. As a pitcher chosen under the Rule 5 Draft, he was required to be with the Mets for an entire season to be able to give him another option for the next season. Before a Rule 5 pick can be given back to his original team, he has to go through the entire league without being claimed. This is what happened in this case.

In 2022, when he was 25 years old, Zach Greene pitched for the Yankees’ Triple-A team. Greene was a Yankees farmhand who pitched in relief. He had 12.4 strikeouts per nine innings, 96 strikeouts in 68 1/3 innings, and an ERA of 3.42. There was no Yankees pitcher who could match his 9-0 MiLB record. Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin of FanGraphs hailed him as a “potential three-pitch middle reliever” when they wrote about last year’s Rule 5 class. They pointed out that Zach Greene’s delivery carried lots of control, which helped make up for its slower-than-average speed.

Zach Greene played in five spring games for the Mets. He gave up seven runs on six hits and six walks over 4 2/3 innings. He got five strikeouts and gave up one home run. But in 4.2 innings, he had a 13.50 ERA. Greene would have had to be on the Mets’ active roster all season or on the active roster for at least 90 days and on the injured list for the rest of the season for the Mets to keep him in the organization past 2023.

In his last game, against the Nationals on March 11, Zach Greene gave up two runs in one inning of relief.

Zach Greene pitches a sweeping slider, with a horizontal sweep of 13 to 16 inches and a speed of around 80 mph. This is because Greene is a natural supinator, meaning he rolls his wrist out when he throws. His slider is his best pitch, and the Yankees may ask him to use it a lot to get batters to swing and miss.

He also has a cutter and a four-seam fastball. His cutter is similar to his fastball, but it moves more like a slider. His four-seamer cuts instead of runs, which means it moves away from a right-hander, which is unusual for a four-seamer.

No one knew right away if Zach Greene would be added to the Yankees’ roster for spring training or sent to their minor league camp.

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Standard Pitching Minor Leagues