NEW YORK — The Yankees made the signing on Jan. 19, and the timing told the whole story. Seven days before the team finally struck its deal to bring back Cody Bellinger, uncertainty over his return was growing by the day.
With Bellinger’s free agency dragging on and no agreement in sight, the Yankees moved to protect themselves. They added a veteran slugger on a minor league deal, a left-handed bat who could cover first base and all three outfield spots if their top target walked away.
It was a sensible hedge at the time. The player offered the same kind of positional flexibility the Yankees prized in Bellinger, making him a natural insurance policy while the bigger negotiation played out.
The concern was real. Reports that month indicated the Yankees had drawn a line on Bellinger and were prepared to let him walk if a rival swooped in with a bigger offer. The club wanted a contingency plan in place rather than scramble if the talks collapsed.
The signing also sent a quiet message that the Yankees were ready to move forward without their preferred bat. It was the kind of low-risk depth move a contender makes when a key piece of its winter remains unresolved.
That insurance is no longer needed. Nearly five months later, the Yankees have released the player they once viewed as a fallback option, and he never appeared in a game for the big league club.
The Yankees move on
The transaction was confirmed through official channels. MLB.com reported on June 14 that the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders had released left-handed-hitting Seth Brown.
The move came just before the Yankees opened a homestand against the Chicago White Sox. Brown spent the entire season at Triple-A rather than the majors, never earning a call-up to the Bronx.
His numbers at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre did not force the issue. Brown batted .235 with 43 hits, nine home runs, and 21 RBIs across 53 Triple-A games.
Signed as Bellinger insurance
The logic behind the January signing was clear for the Yankees. At the time, their negotiations with Bellinger had stalled, and Brown offered a similar skill set as a low-cost fallback.
Like Bellinger, Brown could handle first base and all three outfield spots. The Yankees signed him one day after reports that they would not enter a bidding war for Bellinger, having offered roughly five years and $160 million while his camp sought seven years.
Bellinger ultimately returned to the Yankees about a week later, which pushed Brown further down the depth chart before the season even began. The hedge was no longer essential the moment the star re-signed.
A left-handed bat built for the Bronx
The Yankees had a clear on-paper reason to like Brown beyond his versatility. His swing appeared tailored to Yankee Stadium’s short right-field porch, which sits just 314 feet down the line.
Brown is a left-handed hitter who excels at pulling the ball in the air. Over his career he posted a 21.6 percent pulled fly-ball rate, a figure that jumped to 28.6 percent in his final season with the Athletics.
The Yankees hoped that tendency could translate into cheap power in the Bronx, much as it did for Bellinger, who hit 18 of his 29 home runs at home in 2025 and posted a home OPS nearly 200 points higher than on the road.
The catch was Brown’s declining contact quality. His average exit velocity dipped to 87.2 mph in his final Athletics stint, below his 89.5 mph career mark, and the Yankees were betting he could rediscover the pop that once made him a 25-homer threat.
A career that peaked early
Brown arrived with a track record that included one genuinely productive stretch. The Athletics drafted him in the 19th round in 2015, and he spent all seven of his MLB seasons in Oakland.
His best year came in 2022, when he hit .230 with 25 home runs, 26 doubles, and 73 RBIs across 150 games. No other Athletic hit more than 18 homers that season.
The production faded after that. Brown’s OPS-plus slipped to 93 in 2023 and 91 in 2024 before a difficult 2025, when a left elbow issue limited him to 38 games and a .185 average before the Athletics released him in late June.
Brown did show life in the minors last summer. After signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks on a minor league deal in July, he raked at Triple-A Reno, slashing .291/.381/.544 with six home runs in 26 games before being released in August and finishing the year unsigned.
For his career, Brown is a .226 hitter with 74 home runs, 233 RBIs, and 180 runs over 568 big league games.
Where the move leaves the Yankees
The release reflects how the Yankees outfield picture has filled in since January. The depth Brown was meant to provide is no longer needed.
Bellinger is back and producing, while young outfielders Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones have moved into regular roles amid the team’s injuries. Paul Goldschmidt has handled first base, and Ben Rice has anchored the lineup. The path Brown might have taken to the roster has effectively closed.
The Brown decision comes with the Yankees in a strong position. The club sits atop the American League East at 43-27 after taking two of three from the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend.
New York went 7-3 over its last 10 games and is 19-12 at home heading into the White Sox series. After Chicago, the Yankees host the Cincinnati Reds on Friday.
Cutting Brown is a minor piece of roster housekeeping for a contender managing depth and the 40-man roster. The signing once made sense as a hedge against losing Bellinger. With Bellinger back in the fold and the outfield crowded, the Yankees simply no longer had a place for the player they brought in to cover that very scenario.
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