Yankees Designate Former First-Round Pick For Assignment

The New York Yankees DFA'ed a pitcher that holds the strikeout record for their Triple-A affiliate.

The New York Yankees designated a former first-round draft pick for assignment on Monday, per the MLB Transaction wire.

The Yankees designated pitcher Matt Krook for assignment. In doing so, Krook must go through waivers before the Yankees can bring him back on a minor-league deal, if they wish.

Krook wasn’t a first-round pick for the Yankees. But he was a first-round pick for the Miami Marlins in the 2013 MLB June Amateur Draft out of St. Ignatius College Preparatory (San Francisco, Calif.).

Krook passed on the Majors and went to Oregon, where he eventually was a fourth-round pick of the San Francisco Giants in 2016.

Krook ended up with the Yankees in 2020 after he was picked in the Rule 5 Draft from the Tampa Bay Rays. He worked his way up to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in 2022 and went 10-7 with a 4.09 ERA that season. But he set a frachise record for strikeouts that season with 155.

That intrigued the Yankees enough to move him to the 40-man roster. He went from starter to reliever last season and the strikeouts showed up again, as he had 34 in 17.1 innings with a 1.04 ERA.

The Yankees promoted him in late May last season but went unused the first time around. He was recalled on June 8 to replace Nestor Cortés and made his Major League debut on June 16 at Fenway Park.

In four appearances he did not record a decision and had a 24.75 ERA. He gave up 11 runs in four innings.