Inside The Pinstripes

What Scott Effross Brings to the Yankees' Bullpen

The Yankees traded their second-best pitching prospect to the Cubs on Monday for this right-handed reliever.

Max Goodman

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NEW YORK — Back in April, Yankees manager Aaron Boone heard rumblings within the organization that New York was keeping a watchful eye on Scott Effross, a sidearm reliever with the Cubs.

Effross wasn't a big name at the time, but he was having a solid start to the season and the Yankees liked his stuff.

Three months later, Boone is preparing to add that same reliever to his bullpen following a trade with Chicago ahead of Tuesday's deadline. 

New York acquired Effross from the Cubs on Monday afternoon, sending the organization's No. 7 prospect Hayden Wesneski back to Chicago in the deal. Effross is expected to join his new teammates in the Bronx on Tuesday, Boone said, explaining that the 28-year-old is having one of the best seasons of any reliever in the league.

"He's got weapons to get [both righties and lefties] out. Excited to add him to the mix," Boone said. 

Effross is in the middle of his second big-league season, posting a 2.66 ERA with 1.2 fWAR over 47 appearances (44 innings) out of the Cubs bullpen. The Indiana product is among the best in baseball with a 35% chase rate, 3.4% barrel rate and even if he doesn't throw particularly hard (averaging 90.2 mph on his sinker), he has 50 strikeouts, 28.1% of the batters he's faced. 

As Boone alluded to, Effross is a tough at-bat for batters on both sides of the plate. Left-handed hitters are slashing just .132/.220/.245 (7-for-53) against the sidearmer this season. Righties are hitting .261/.291/.324 with no home runs against him. 

What makes him so effective? It's a mix of his deceptive delivery with his effective mix of pitches, each darting in different directions.

"That side arm [delivery], he's got that built in advantage a little bit against righties where he sinks the ball and has a good slider to go with it," Boone explained. "You see against lefties, which he's done even better to this point, he's got that ability to drive the ball up in the strike zone and has some carry on it with a really good changeup to go with it."

Opponents are hitting .094 against Effross' changeup and .157 against his slider in 2022.

Judging by how the Yankees have brought the best out of relievers like Clay Holmes, Lucas Luetge, Ron Marinaccio and more over the last few years, pitching coach Matt Blake and his staff must be salivating over an opportunity to work with someone as unique as Effross with his talent and upside. Not to mention the fact that he's under team control for five more seasons, scheduled to hit free agency in 2028.

With Michael King and Chad Green out for the rest of this year, New York could certainly use some help in the back end of their bullpen. While Boone sees Effross as a pitcher that's capable of getting the job done in high leverage—he pointed out that the right-hander secured his first career save last week—he views the new addition as a versatile piece he can deploy at any time.

"I plan on using him in a lot of different spots," Boone added. "I could see him in any kind of big situation, whether it's fifth, sixth, seventh, I could see him a lot of different roles, especially because of his ability to get both sides out. It's not like I just want to get him in there against these three righties or whatever. That versatility, hopefully, will serve everyone well."

Effross isn't the only reliever that the Yankees added on Monday. New York also acquired right-hander Lou Trivino from the Athletics in a six-player swap including A's ace Frankie Montas. 

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Max Goodman
MAX GOODMAN

Max Goodman covers the New York Yankees for Sports Illustrated and FanNation. Goodman has been on the Yankees beat for three seasons. He is also the publisher of Sports Illustrated and FanNation's Jets site, Jets Country. Before starting Inside The Pinstripes, Goodman attended Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and Master’s Degree in Sports Media, graduating in 2019. At school, Goodman was an anchor and reporter with NNN SportsNight and played on the club baseball team. While at Northwestern, Goodman interned with MLB.com as an associate reporter covering the Miami Marlins. He also interned with ESPN, working as an associate reporter on Mike Greenberg's Get Up. Goodman is from New York City. He grew up in Hell's Kitchen. Follow Goodman on Twitter @MaxTGoodman. You can connect with him via email by reaching out at maxgoodmansports@gmail.com.

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