When the Yankees claimed Michael Tonkin off waivers at the end of April, it felt like the type of short-term move for a warm body to soak up a few meaningless innings before being sent back to non-roster purgatory. The righty reliever had already been designated for assignment three times by the Mets , Twins, and Mets again in a 17-day span in mid-April and at 34 years old did not seem like a likely candidate for Matt Blake’s next reclamation project. He certainly appeared to confirmed those suspicions in his Yankees debut, giving up two runs (albeit unearned) on two hits in the 11th inning to lose in heartbreaking fashion to the Brewers — a performance I am hereby labeling the Tonkin Incident.
However, rather than ditch their new pitcher in the sea, the Yankees made a resolution to stick by the veteran reliever as there must have been elements of his pitcher profile that they liked and felt they could approve upon. Tonkin has rewarded the team’s faith in him with an impressive run of relief outings, tallying a 0.89 ERA (459 ERA+) in 14 appearances totaling 20.
1 innings. He has yet to give up a home run in pinstripes, is punching out batters at an above-average clip (23.5-percent strikeout rate), and has induced an impressive 54.
5-percent ground-ball rate. Most encouragingly, Tonkin’s been more effective with each successive outing. He has held opponents scoreless in each of his last seven appearances, each one lasting at least an inning.
He really seems to have hit h.
