Michael Tonkin was undrafted for the fourth time this season, but this time it came after a solid stretch of appearances. This marks the third-longest stretch of MLB appearances of Tonkin’s career, behind 45 games with the Braves last year and 65 games with the Twins in 2016.
So, “it was a tough choice,” manager Aaron Boone said, but because he felt the Yankees were short on relief pitchers right now, the team designated for assignment the 34-year-old relief pitcher, who had a 3.38 ERA in 39 games since signing with the Yankees in April, and promoted right-handed relief pitcher Phil Bickford from Triple-A, signed him to a major league contract, and added him to the active roster.
Former Mets pitcher Bickford returns to the Yankees for the second time this season. After appearing in five games in late June and seeing his ERA rise to 14.40, he pitched in 34 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with a 3.00 ERA and five saves.
Bickford was with Scranton for their road series against St. Paul, last pitching on Aug. 21, and then joined the Yankees on Sunday as they completed a three-game series against the Rockies at Yankee Stadium before traveling for a series against the Nationals.
“He’s done a good job,” Boone said of Bickford, “and he’s got the length. We could probably get him to pitch a couple of innings if we needed to. … We had a couple of candidates on the table, but he seemed like the right guy to get at this point.”
The decision with Tonkin wasn’t an easy one for Boone, whose career has been filled with stops in a variety of places, from four different MLB teams to Japan, the Dominican Republic and independent leagues, but he found a steady role in the Yankees’ relief corps after bouncing between the Mets and Twins at the start of the 2024 season.
But since the All-Star break, Tonkin’s ERA has soared to 6.98 in 19 1/3 innings, and he’s only allowed a run three times in his past 12 starts.
As the Yankees’ October relief slate begins to take shape, Boone will also have to make further bullpen decisions in the coming weeks. Ian Hamilton (strained right back) struck out all three batters he faced in his first rehab appearance for Double-A Somerset on Saturday. Boone said Lou Trivino (recovering from right elbow surgery) and Scott Efros have performed well in the minor leagues and both relievers are options for the Yankees’ future.
But the first domino has now fallen.
