Three’s Company with the unlikely vets in the Yankees’ bullpen.
How Michael Tonkin, Tim Hill, and Jake Cousins have stepped up amid struggles in the New York ‘pen.
There are many archetypes in baseball. Think of the speedy, flashy shortstop; the hulking, lumbering slugger; the laser-focused ace with a screw or two loose. Of course, the journeyman reliever who’s been around the block and comes out of nowhere to have a career year is always a fan favorite.
For the Yankees, three such journeymen have come through for the bullpen at a time of much instability. To varying degrees, Michael Tonkin, Tim Hill, and Jake Cousins have all emerged from obscurity to get key outs and at least do their part to lighten the load.
Before joining the Yankees, the three shared four DFAs between them—Tonkin was DFA’d by the Mets twice as well as the Twins, while Tim Hill was DFA’d by the White Sox. Cousins also came from the White Sox, in a March 31st trade in exchange for mere cash considerations. Yet they have become some of the most important players on this Yankee team in the past month.
Hill is the most recent addition to the Yankees ’pen. Signed on June 20th after the free-falling ChiSox cut him loose, the 34-year-old had compiled a 5.87 ERA with the South Siders in 27 appearances. In his nine games in pinstripes, however, he has a 2.03 ERA, only giving up three earned runs in 13.1 innings of work. That’s much more in tune with his 3.41 xERA. As a lefty with a funky delivery, 60.5 percent of his balls in play are grounders. His ground-ball rate this year is even higher at 65.6 percent this year.
The problem for Hill is that he was pitching in front of one of the worst defenses in the league. Despite Anthony Volpe and Alex Vertigo’s (excruciating) hiccups on Sunday, the Yankees are a far better fielding team than the hapless White Sox. Much has been written about the lack of relievers that can generate swings and misses in the Yankees ‘pen right now, and Hill, with his meager 12.6-percent whiff rate, isn’t the answer on that front. But Hill has yet to issue a free and also avoids hard contact — he’s one of the best pitchers in the game in terms of barrel percentage. A scant 0.7 percent of balls put in play against Hill have been barreled up.
Hill has demonstrated that he can get out of a jam by inducing bad contact.Considering he was signed for the league minimum, Hill has provided valuable innings for the Yankees, recording at least one shutout frame in three of the Yankees’ last four victories.
Cousins only somewhat fits the description of a veteran, as he’s only in his fourth MLB season. But as a 30-year-old who is now with his fourth organization in less than a calendar year, he’s not exactly an up-and-comer. Cousins’ contract was selected by the Yankees on March 31st, and yet he’s only appeared in 10 games so far for the Yankees — shuffling to Triple-A a few times since he has options remaining. But in those 10 games, he’s pitched 12.1 innings and has given up two earned runs.
More impressively, Cousins has garnered 18 strikeouts in that time, making hitters look bad. He has an absolutely nasty slider that, per Savant, has already accumulated a run value of 6 in a limited sample size.
While Cousins has only pitched 12.1 innings, he’s been able to get out of some high-leverage jams to keep the game within punching distance for the Yanks. For instance, he froze Austin Hays on a slider to keep the Yankees within one in the bottom of the eighth during the first-half finale on Sunday in Baltimore.
