NEW YORK – Looking ahead, the Yankees can see Carlos Lagrange impacting their bullpen through October.
So, as the calendar flipped to June, it was time to take Lagrange out of their Triple-A rotation and to begin turning him into a big-league reliever.
“There’s a chance for him to potentially impact us out of the bullpen’’ during the season’s second half, manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
Anyone who watched Lagrange dial up 103-mph fastballs during spring training exhibition games, with improved command, could imagine the right-hander in pinstripes this season.
But as a starter or reliever?
That depended on what was needed in the Bronx, and the bullpen’s makeup and performance has provided cause for concern.
Closer David Bednar has had issues with effectiveness and economy of pitches, while Camilo Doval’s command and the control of Fernando Cruz’s signature splitter can be spotty.
During camp, “I think there was a lot of speculation,’’ Boone said of how Lagrange might potentially impact the 2026 Yanks’ bullpen.
“But you also see the excitement of what he could be as a starter, too. It’s electric stuff,’’ and the Yanks still view Lagrange as a starter in the long-term.
In 11 starts at Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this year, Lagrange hasn’t matched his impressive spring training, with a 0-3 record, 4.41 ERA and 1.237 WHIP, but with 63 strikeouts in 49 innigs.
The organization began discussing Lagrange’s move to the bullpen over the last few weeks, per Boone, and it was decided to act now, while hopeful of not “disrupting anything moving forward’’ in his development.
Boone said it would “probably take some time’’ for Lagrange to fully transition to relief work this summer. “He’s got a good baseline to work with and hopefully puts himself in position to potentially become an option for us.’’
Lagrange captured the attention of Yankees Universe with his standout spring training performance.
“The exciting thing for me was really being around him for the first time, day-to-day, seeing the person, the competitor, how he works, who he is,’’ said Boone.
As his strikeouts and impressive outings piled up, Boone admitted that, “Yeah, I think we all had the thought of, ‘Ooh, maybe he could impact us in some way, shape or form’ during the ’26 season.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Carlos Lagrange moves to bullpen before possible Yankees call-up