NEW YORK — A year ago the pitcher did not know what he was from one day to the next. Some nights the Mets started him. Other nights they used him in relief without telling him beforehand.
He described the experience in terms nobody uses about a job they enjoy.
The Mets released him in August. He had knee inflammation and a shoulder impingement, and 32-year-old right-handers with those problems do not usually get another chapter.
The Yankees signed him anyway, for less money than most clubs spend on a backup infielder. It has become the quietest bargain on their roster.
Paul Blackburn has become the most valuable arm nobody expected in the Yankees bullpen, posting a 0.99 ERA over 36 1/3 innings since May 16, the best mark in the majors among pitchers with at least 30 innings in that span, and his emergence may reduce what the club needs to buy before the Aug. 3 deadline.
From uncertainty in Queens to a defined role
Blackburn spent last season without a clear assignment, and he did not hide his frustration when asked about it earlier this month. He made four starts and seven appearances for the Mets before his release.
“I had some outings out of the pen with the Mets last year, but I was never told that,” Blackburn said. “It was like, ‘Hey, we’re gonna put you in the pen this time around, [but] you might start next time around,’ so it was a lot of uncertainty.”
He went further, describing the arrangement as something that did not resemble a real plan.
“I felt like we were just playing a video game. Like that’s not how it really works,” Blackburn said.
What the Yankees offered was the opposite, and he has pointed to that structure repeatedly when explaining the turnaround in the Bronx.
“When I showed up last year, I didn’t know what to expect really,” said Blackburn, an All-Star with the Athletics in 2022. “But I walked in, and there was a plan for me from Day 1. It just seemed like they were interested in helping me and getting me back to where everyone thought I could be.”
The velocity jump behind the numbers
Blackburn re-signed with the Yankees on a one-year, $2 million contract with innings-based incentives, then used a healthy offseason to change what he throws.
His sinker now averages 94.2 mph, up from 92.6 last season, and his cutter has gained 1.4 mph. During Wednesday’s doubleheader nightcap he threw the two fastest pitches of his career, at 96.9 and 96.7 mph.
He credited a full winter of training rather than any mechanical overhaul.
“I had a full offseason this year,” Blackburn said. “I focused on little different things I needed to get stronger and [gain] more mobility. Just ran with it.”
The Yankees also reworked how he attacks hitters. They tweaked his sinker and cutter grips last year, and he now throws both more often to right-handers while showing left-handers his changeup roughly twice as much as in 2025. Hitters from both sides carry a sub-.575 OPS against him.
The overall line reads 2.00 ERA with a 57 percent groundball rate. Since June 21 he has allowed one earned run across 14 appearances and 21 1/3 innings.
Boone stops calling him a secret
Boone had watched the run build for weeks before anyone outside the Yankees clubhouse asked about it. That changed only recently, and the manager said so after Blackburn struck out three over two scoreless innings in a 2-0 win over the Pirates.
“For a while there, he was a good secret,” Boone said. “Then about a week or 10 days ago, somebody asked me about the job he had done because it had been about a month-plus of some really good work, whether it be a high-leverage situation [or] giving you multiple innings on a given night.”
The outing that prompted it was not a soft landing. Blackburn inherited a runner in the seventh, watched him reach third on a stolen base and a throwing error, then struck out Ryan O’Hearn and Marcell Ozuna to escape.
“It’s been about six weeks where he’s gotten his stuff in a really good place,” Boone said. “He’s another guy like [Brent] Headrick, you feel good about going through lefties and righties. He’s been big for us.”
Brent Headrick has been the other find
The lefty Boone mentioned has been just as unlikely a find for the Yankees. Headrick, claimed off waivers from the Twins before last season, carries a 1.40 ERA with a 30.0 percent strikeout rate over 51 games, a total tied for the major league lead.
He has 42 scoreless appearances this season, the most in the majors, and has been reported to be carrying a scoreless streak at Yankee Stadium approaching 35 innings, within range of a franchise mark set by Allie Reynolds in the 1950s.
The situational numbers explain why the Yankees trust him anywhere. With runners in scoring position and two outs, opponents are hitting .040 against him. In high-leverage spots they are batting .170 with a .549 OPS, and from the seventh inning on his ERA sits at 1.02.
Headrick also carries reverse splits, with right-handers hitting .172 against him and left-handers .265, which is why Boone uses him without regard for matchups.
Boone has been direct about what the lefty has become.
“He’s been outstanding,” Boone said.
What it means for the deadline
The Yankees still have holes. Camilo Doval and Jake Bird, both acquired at last year’s deadline, have struggled, Tim Hill has been vulnerable against right-handers, and Yankees prospect Carlos Lagrange is out with a shoulder sprain.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is still expected to pursue at least one high-leverage arm to pair with David Bednar and Fernando Cruz. Angel Chivilli has added another unexpected piece, allowing no runs over nine innings and seven games since being recalled July 5.
The Yankees own a 3.38 team ERA, best in the majors, and a bullpen ERA of 3.06 that trails only Boston. They sit 57-45 and open a series in Philadelphia with the deadline 10 days away.
Blackburn will not fix everything, and nobody inside the Yankees organization is arguing he should. What he has done is make the shopping list shorter than it looked a month ago.
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