New York Yankees reliever Brent Headrick is on pace to set a franchise record.
The reliever has been eating innings this season, racking up a league-best number of appearances without giving up a run. He’s also on pace to set a Yankees record in another important pitching category.
Brent Headrick Earning Accolades as Bullpen Workhorse
As reporter Zach Brazziler of the New York Post noted, Headrick has already set a Yankees franchise record for scoreless appearances through the first two-thirds of a season.
“The Yankees reliever now has 52 scoreless outings this year, the most in MLB and a franchise record through 120 games,” Brazziler wrote. “He’s showing no signs of slowing down, allowing three earned runs in his past 30 innings of work. On the season, he has a 1.47 ERA across 61 ¹/₃ innings.”
Brazziler added that Headrick is within reach of breaking a record that’s been held for more than two decades.
“Headrick could set a Yankees record for most pitching appearances in a season. Paul Quantrill owns the No. 1 spot (86) in 2004, and Scott Proctor is No. 2 (83) in 2006. Headrick is on pace to tie Proctor.”
Headrick said he was not expecting to play such a big role out of the bullpen, telling reporters after the team’s win on Wednesday that he didn’t expect to hear his name called so many times.
“If someone said you would have 60 appearances [at this point], I would say you’re crazy,” Headrick said, via the New York Post. “It’s awesome. It’s been a wild year, but it’s been a lot of fun.”
Aaron Boone Shares Praise for Brent Headrick
Yankees manager Aaron Boone shared praise for Headrick, saying he was the one who put in the work to earn such a big role out of the bullpen this year.
“He’s put in the work, the training, that starts in earnest in the winter,” Boone said. “A lot of time your winter program sets you up for success during the year. He certainly put in the work. Even though he has worked a lot, we at the same time have tried to protect him in certain situations of being disciplined on certain days, of, ‘You’re not available today.’ So [we’re] trying to avoid those situations where he’s too spent and you have to recover too much.
“Ideally you have a slightly less games/innings projection, but we haven’t been afforded that luxury necessarily this year, and he’s taken that on well.”
Yankees Get Brent Headrick News Amid Quietly Historic Season