The reigning World Series champions reportedly have a new piece for their bullpen. The Texas Rangers have reportedly added former All-Star Kirby Yates on a one-year deal after he spent the last two seasons with the Braves. Here’s a look at what Yates did in 2023.
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A Look at Yates
Former Braves reliever Kirby Yates made his return from Tommy John surgery in 2022 but did not perform up to his pre-injury standards. Yates, however, gave up four runs over seven innings that season and was shut down thanks to elbow inflammation in September.
The 2023 campaign was much kinder to Yates, a 2019 NL All-Star. The 36-year-old struck out 80 over 60.1 IP and owned a 3.28 ERA/1.19 WHIP. However, his FIP (4.63) was higher and we’ll get to why in a second.
The veteran reliever’s stuff still played up in 2023, as his 31.5% K% and 30.8% Whiff% rates were both well above average. Not to mention, hitters batted less than .200 against both his fastball and splitter, the latter of which is his ace in the hole.
However, the biggest issue for Yates in 2023 was the command. It’s been like that since 2020, as Yates has recorded BB% rates north of 14% in 2020, 2022, and 2023. Keep in mind that the MLB average is 8.4%.
It doesn’t help that Yates has missed both in and out of the zone. Not only is he prone to the walks, but Yates will tend to miss in and over the plate with the fastball. The veteran righty gave up 11 home runs over 67.1 IP in 2023, 10 of which came off the four-seamer.
Still, Yates’ splitter remains one of the best pitches in all of baseball. Given his ability to work with the pitch, and a dominant fastball when he’s on, it’s not hard to see why the Rangers snared a reliever with plus stuff but questionable command.
Per ESPN, the Rangers signed Yates to a one-year deal worth $4.5MM.
Analysis
Despite a bumpy regular season, the Rangers bullpen was able to make it work in the MLB Postseason. Aroldis Chapman, Jose Leclerc, Cody Bradford, and Josh Sborz were strong late in the year, while Texas also received contributions from starters Dane Dunning and Jon Gray as neither were used as starters in the playoffs.
Both Chapman and Will Smith went to market in free agency, so it’s not a shock that Texas would target relief help for 2024. Now, the Rangers add a power righty with a fastball/splitter combo and one that can give opposing hitters a different look.
The Rangers are likely not done yet, although it doesn’t appear that the World Series champions are in on Shohei Ohtani. Another starting pitcher to complement Nathan Eovaldi, Max Scherzer, Andrew Heaney, Jon Gray, and Dane Dunning would make sense.