BRONX, N.Y. — Yankees reliever Jonathan Loaisiga was placed on the 60-day IL Friday, just hours before first pitch of New York’s home opener, with a right flexor strain.
Retroactive to Thursday, the right flexor strain occurs in the hip when one or more of the muscles that bring the knee up and down become stretched or torn. This comes as a blow for a reliever who has had repeated injury stints, with his last two IL visits last season attributed to elbow inflammation. He’s had shoulder inflammation in 2021 and 2022 as well.
With this, the Yankees called up Dennis Santana, a right-hander with an 8-14 career record. Santana was with the Dodgers from 2018-2021 when they traded him to the Texas Rangers, where he stayed until the end of the 2022 season. After that, he stayed for a season in Queens with the Mets before making the long trip across the East River to the Bronx.
He leaves batters confused at the plate with his wide-ranging arsenal of breaking pitches, with
the slider owning a 52% whiff rate. His sinker paints the inside of the zone from a right-handed batter’s perspective, but the 96-mph fastball and changeup is what gets most batters.
His changeup alone is what puts away 21.4% of batters, the highest out of his entire arsenal.
Just before noon, baseball insider Jon Heyman broke the news that Rougned Odor signed to a minor-league contract with the Yankees. He’ll be able to opt out of the contract by July 1 if he hasn’t been added to the active roster. It’s Odor’s second stint with the Yankees after having spent the 2021 season in the Bronx, slashing .202/.286/.379 with 15 dingers in 361
PAs.
