Travis MacGregor is back on a mound after five months away. The New York Yankees reinstated the 28-year-old right-hander from the 60-day injured list on August 13, returning him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, according to MacGregor’s official MLB.com transactions log.
It’s a small procedural move on paper. For a pitcher who’s spent a decade chasing his first big-league inning, it’s another chance to prove the arm still has something left.
Travis MacGregor’s Long Road Back From Injury
The RailRiders placed MacGregor on the 60-day injured list on March 27, shortly after he was reassigned from Yankees big-league camp following a spring that turned heads for the wrong reasons. He’d been sitting in the mid-90s during bullpens and live batting practice, then got shut down before ever appearing in a Grapefruit League game because of what was described only as a minor, undisclosed injury.
He didn’t pitch again until late July, when the Yankees sent him out on a rehab assignment to Single-A Tampa. From there he moved to High-A Hudson Valley on August 7, posting strong early results — 5 2/3 rehab innings with an ERA under 2.00 — before Thursday’s activation sent him back to Triple-A.
MacGregor, born in Tarpon Springs, Florida, stands 6-foot-4 and throws from a starter’s frame he’s carried since Pittsburgh made him a second-round pick, 68th overall, in the 2016 draft. He signed for $900,000, forgoing a Clemson commitment, after scouts watched his fastball jump into the low 90s during his senior year at East Lake High School, where he posted a 0.92 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 54 innings, according to Baseball America’s draft scouting report.
By 2020 he had risen to the No. 17 ranking on Pittsburgh’s prospect list, per Baseball America, but an arm injury derailed him.
From Pirates Prospect to Yankees Depth
MacGregor reached low Class A West Virginia in 2018 before Tommy John surgery wiped out the rest of that year and all of 2019, then the pandemic erased the 2020 minor-league season entirely. He climbed back to Triple-A Indianapolis by 2022, hit free agency, returned to the Pirates on a new deal for 2023, then left the organization for good.
The nomadic stretch that followed took him through the Angels’ system in 2024, the Rangers‘ in early 2025, and finally the Brewers, who signed him in August 2025 after Texas released him. He finished that season with a combined 4.94 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 51 innings across 47 relief outings, sharper after the move to Double-A Biloxi than he’d been in Frisco.
New York signed him to a minor-league deal in December, assigning him to Double-A Somerset. He’s not on the 40-man roster, according to Sports Illustrated.
MacGregor has long since aged out of typical prospect lists at age 28. What he still offers is size, a mid-90s fastball, and Triple-A mileage, the kind of profile organizations lean on for bullpen depth when injuries pile up in September. If MacGregor pitches well down the stretch and the Yankees need arms, a call-up to Yankee Stadium is not out of the question. A stronger case for 2027 would likely require a 40-man addition over the winter.
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