Yankees Add Two Arms to Spring Camp

The New York Yankees just opened up spring camp this week but that doesn’t mean General Manager Brian Cashman’s job is done. Cashman is still adding talent and arms to the team during this spring training camp in hopes of someone catching lightning in a bottle much like Jonathan Barbato did in 2016. The two arms vying to be the next Barbato for the Yankees are RHP J.R. Graham and LHP James Reeves. Both were listed as non-roster invitees for spring training and both were members of the 2016 farm system.

These arms were likely added because of Tyler Clippard, Dellin Betances and others preparing to go to the World Baseball Classic but either way it is still a shot for these two young players to show the organization what they have in their arsenal.

Graham was acquired from the Minnesota Twins during the 2016 season and spent most of the season in Double-A with the Trenton Thunder before being outrighted off the 40 man roster this past September. Reeves is a LOOGY at best and has not pitched much above High-A Ball during his minor league career but teams always seem to need pitchers who can get left-handed hitting out so who knows.

Stay tuned! Good luck to both!

Meet a Prospect: J.R. Graham

The New York Yankees need all arms on deck this season if they are going to make a comeback in the AL East Division race and playoff push after losing a few arms to the disabled list already this season. CC Sabathia may be back on Friday in Oakland and there is no definitive timetable for the return of Luis Severino while a slew of the Scranton Shuttle are done for the year with Tommy John surgery leaving a big hole in the Yankees pitching depth. With that in mind the Yankees made a trade this week with the Minnesota Twins to bring some of that depth back when the organization acquired J.R. Graham for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Let's meet him. This is Meet a Prospect: The J.R. Graham Edition.

J.R. Graham was a Rule 5 pick of the Twins from the Minnesota Twins last season and the right-hander was able to stick in the Twins bullpen all season. Graham posted 65.1 innings with Minnesota while posting a 5.10 ERA and 4.63 FIP. Graham sports a mid-90 MPH fastball and a mid-80 MPH slider that is considered to be his out pitch. Graham also throws a changeup but as with many relief pitchers it is considered raw and mediocre at best at this point in his career. Graham was designated for assignment a few days ago by Minnesota and will now look to latch on with New York for the remainder of the season.

Graham was immediately assigned to Double-A Trenton with the Trenton Thunder but was given a 40 man roster spot showing that he is a quick DFA candidate and/or Scranton Shuttle rider in the near future.

Here is what Graham has brought the Twins and Triple-A Rochester this season:

Year	Lg	W	L	ERA	G	GF	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
2016	AAA	0	2	10.80	8	7	3	8.1	11	10	10	1	7	7			2.160	11.9	1.1	7.6	7.6
2016	AL	0	0	10.80	1	0	0	1.2	3	2	2	0	1	2	46	2.48	2.400	16.2	0.0	5.4	10.8

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/15/2016.