Yankees, Colten Brewer Agree To Minor League Deal

The Yankees have agreed to a minor league deal with righty Colten Brewer, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The Pro Agents, Inc. client will be back for a second stint with the Yankees and will receive an invite to big league camp next spring.

Brewer, 32, pitched 8 1/3 innings with the Yankees in 2023 and spent the bulk of that season with their Triple-A affiliate. He spent the 2024 campaign with the Cubs, pitching 20 2/3 innings with a grim 5.66 ERA but a more encouraging 23.2% strikeout rate versus a 9.5% walk rate. The 6’4″ righty has pitched in parts of six big league seasons for four teams, compiling 120 innings of 5.10 ERA ball.

Though Brewer doesn’t have a standout MLB track record, he’s been solid in parts of seven Triple-A seasons, working 164 2/3 innings with a 4.10 ERA, a 26.6% strikeout rate and a 9.5% walk rate. He averaged 94.3 mph on his heater this past season and, like many Yankees pitching targets, has shown a repeated penchant for inducing ground-balls. Just over half the batted balls put into play against Brewer in his big league career have been grounders (50.1%).

With the exception of an uncharacteristic six homers in 25 2/3 innings in 2020, Brewer has done a good job of both keeping the ball in the yard and avoiding hard contact. He yielded just a 31.9% hard-hit rate in Triple-A this past season and an even stingier 28.3% mark with the Yankees in 2023. Overall, Brewer was excellent with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2023, recording 20 2/3 innings of 1.80 ERA ball for the Yankees’ top affiliate that year. He parlayed that success into a run with the Hanshin Tigers in Japan but returned stateside this past season.

Obviously, Brewer’s minor league deal is far from the most impactful Yankees news of the day. However, he’ll give the Yanks an experienced reliever with a nice Triple-A track record and plenty of grounders to stash in the upper minors. Brewer has pitched in six of the past seven MLB seasons — 2022 being the lone exception — and ought to be in line for a call should the Yankees need an extra arm in the event of injuries and/or a stretch that heavily taxes the big league bullpen.