The Yankees announced that right-hander Bradley Hanner has been signed to a big league contract and optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Hanner was already in the organization and pitching at SWB, so this new deal just formalizes a place for the 27-year-old on the 40-man roster. To create space on the 40-man, New York moved Aaron Judge from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day IL.
Judge’s 10-day IL stint due to a left rib fracture began on June 2, so he now won’t be eligible for activation until July 31 at the earliest. However, given that Judge has yet to start even upper-body workouts (let alone baseball activities), he’ll certainly be out until well into August, so a move to the 60-day IL seemed inevitable.
The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty reported earlier this week that Hanner was going to exercise an opt-out clause in his minor league contract, so this 40-man roster placement keeps the reliever in the organization. The move could also be the first step towards Hanner eventually being part of the big league roster in short order, as the righty has a 1.99 ERA, 29.6% strikeout rate, and 9.5% walk rate over 40 2/3 Triple-A relief innings this season.
An 81.5% strand rate and just a 2.6% homer rate may be on the fortunate side, but Hanner looks like he could be another success story for New York’s pitching development team. A 21st-round pick for the Twins in the 2019 draft, Hanner spent his first three pro seasons in Minnesota’s farm system and then three years in Cleveland’s system before signing with the Yankees last winter.
