Top pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange will not come up to help the New York Yankees' shaky bullpen any time soon. Lagrange was placed on the Triple-A injured list Thursday, the team announced. He has a shoulder injury and will go for an MRI, according to The Athletic. The Yankees have not yet given a diagnosis or a timetable for Lagrange's return.
"With a guy like Lagrange, anything pops up, you're protective of the guy," Shelley Duncan, manager of the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate in Scranton, told Pinstripe Alley. "I don't know the details, the little ones. But it's nothing alarming."
Lagrange, 23, got roughed up in his latest Triple-A appearance, surrendering five runs and recording only two outs this past Sunday. The Yankees moved him to the bullpen last month in preparation for a big league call-up and gradually "de-loaded" him to shorter outings. He went from a starter's workload and regular rest to short outings on less rest.
For what it's worth, the hard-throwing Lagrange was in his usual velocity range Sunday. His fastball averaged 98.9 mph and topped out at 101.0 mph. All told, Lagrange has a 4.55 ERA and a 29.5% strikeout rate in 63 ⅓ Triple-A innings this season. Since moving to the bullpen, it's a 5.02 ERA and 31.3% strikeout rate in 14 ⅓ innings across seven appearances.
New York's bullpen has a 3.19 ERA this season, the second-best in baseball, though it is short on velocity and strikeouts, as evidenced by MLB's 18th-best strikeout rate (22.2%) and 27th-best average fastball velocity (93.4 mph). Lagrange would have brought needed velocity and strikeouts to a bullpen that is built around ground balls and weak contact.
Yankees mired in seven-game losing streak
The Yankees have lost seven straight games, their longest losing streak since 2023, and they went 12-14 in June. The bullpen will be a top priority at the trade deadline, but the team is failing every which way right now.
Their offense, their defense, and their starting pitchers have all taken a downturn in recent weeks. Here are the team's ranks:
| April and May | June | |
|---|---|---|
Runs scored per game | 4th in MLB | 20th in MLB |
Starter ERA | 1st | 19th |
Reliever ERA | 10th | 2nd |
Defensive efficiency | 7th | 20th |
Even excluding the automatic runner in extra innings, the Yankees have allowed an astonishing 23 unearned runs in their last 12 games, during which they are 2-10. The suddenly shaky rotation put the Yankees down 4-0 in the third inning last Friday, 4-0 in the third inning last Saturday, 5-0 in the second inning this past Monday, and 4-0 in the first inning this past Tuesday.
The Yankees have also been hit hard with injuries in the last few weeks. Max Fried (elbow), Trent Grisham (hamstring), Aaron Judge (rib), and Giancarlo Stanton (calf) are all on the shelf and only Grisham, who is expected to be activated Friday, is near a return. The injuries alone do not explain the team-wide malaise, however. Judge recently called out his team for a "lack of focus."
New York will no doubt be cautious with Lagrange, who we ranked as the 49th-best prospect in baseball entering 2026. He wasn't going to be a quick fix to their recent troubles anyway. The Yankees need to play better across the board, period. Their pitching has to be better, their offense has to be better, and their defense has to catch the ball and stop being so careless.
The seven-game losing streak has dropped the Yankees to 48-38. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays have won eight straight, moving them into first place in the AL East. The Rays went from 3 ½ games behind the Yankees to four games up in just eight days.
The Yankees and Rays will open an important four-game series at Tropicana Field on Monday.
