The Yankees are planning to call up veteran reliever Justin Topa, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. He’s not on the 40-man roster and will thus need to have his contract formally selected. They’ll need to open a 40-man spot, but that can be accomplished easily by finally transferring Giancarlo Stanton to the 60-day injured list. Stanton has been out since April due to a calf strain and recently suffered a new injury while on a rehab assignment. New York is off today, so a formal announcement may not come until tomorrow.
Topa, 35, opened the season with the Twins but was released after yielding 17 runs in 19 innings out of the Minnesota bullpen. He’s previously had nice seasons with the 2023 Mariners (69 innings, 2.61 ERA, 21.9% strikeout rate, 6.5% walk rate, 56.7% ground-ball rate) and the 2025 Twins (60 innings, 3.90 ERA, 18.3 K%, 6.7 BB%, 47.7 GB%) but has battled major injury issues throughout his career.
Since being cut loose in Minnesota, Topa has signed minor league deals with the Royals, Blue Jays and Yankees. He’s held opponents to one run in five innings since signing on to play with the Yankees’ top affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, albeit with only two strikeouts. In 25 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level this season, Topa has a 1.75 ERA but less encouraging rate stats. His 13.3% strikeout rate is a bottom-of-the-barrel mark, and while his 8% walk rate and 45.9% ground-ball rate are both better than average, they’re also both a ways off from Topa’s peak levels in the majors.
Topa’s sinker sat at 95 mph during his best season in Seattle, but that same pitch averaged 93.4 mph with the Twins earlier this season and is at 93.9 mph in Triple-A this year. This year in Triple-A, he’s significantly scaled back the usage on his low-80s slider in favor of a low-90s cutter. That’s not a huge surprise after opponents absolutely clobbered his slider early in the season. Topa’s chase and swinging-strike rates on the pitch completely evaporated, and opponents belted a pair of homers and a double off his slider prior to his release in Minnesota.
Overall, Topa joins the Yankees with a career 4.27 ERA, 19.2% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 52.9% ground-ball rate in 168 2/3 big league frames. He shouldn’t be expected to miss bats like he did at his best, but Topa still throws strikes and generates grounders at quality rates. If he can carry over any of his Triple-A success and hold a spot in skipper Aaron Boone’s bullpen, he’d be postseason-eligible, but that’s a long ways off from being any kind of real consideration right now. And since Topa has more than five years and can’t be optioned, he’ll need to hold that spot or else be designated for assignment and once again hit the waiver wire.
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