Yankees reliever Ian Hamilton left Thursday’s Game 3 loss in Cleveland with what the team called left calf tightness. The right-hander told Dan Martin and Greg Joyce of the New York Post that he’ll go for imaging before Friday night’s game.
Aaron Boone called upon Hamilton in the sixth inning while New York was trailing 2-1. He issued a leadoff walk to Lane Thomas before Daniel Schneemann hit a grounder to first base. Jon Berti knocked the ball down and flipped to Hamilton covering for the out. Hamilton evidently tweaked his calf while running to the bag. He threw a warm-up pitch after a replay of the call at first. He airmailed the throw and was immediately lifted for Tim Mayza.
Hamilton had a breakout season in 2023 after signing a minor league contract. He tossed 58 innings of 2.64 ERA ball behind a 28.9 percent strikeout rate and an excellent 55. percent grounder percentage. His follow-up has been more solid than great. Hamilton allowed 3.82 earned runs per nine across 35 regular-season appearances. The strikeouts dipped by a few percentage points while his groundball rate plummeted to a pedestrian 43.8 percent clip. The 29-year-old missed a couple of months midseason with a lat strain.
New York has carried Hamilton on each of its playoff rosters, though he hasn’t played a huge role. He made one appearance in the division series, working 1 1/3 scoreless frames with three strikeouts in the Yankees’ Game 2 loss to the Royals. This was Hamilton’s first action of the ALCS.
If the Yankees need to replace him on the roster, his season will be over. Players taken out midway through a playoff round are ineligible for the following series. The Post writes that one of Mark Leiter Jr. or Clayton Beeter would step into the bullpen as a replacement. Beeter only has three MLB games under his belt. Leiter has a lot more experience and seems likely to get the call.
Bryan Hoch of MLB.com relays (on X) that Boone indicated Leiter was the final cut from the pitching staff when the Yankees set their roster before the series. New York acquired the right-hander from the Cubs at the deadline. Leiter was striking out nearly 35 percent of batters faced at the time. He has continued to miss a fair number of bats in the Bronx (31.7 percent strikeout rate), but has given up far too much hard contact. Leiter has been tagged for six homers in 21 2/3 innings as a Yankee and has been left off both series rosters to date.