The New York Yankees are always looking for new ways to bolster their bullpen.
On Friday, they added a 6-foot-5 right-handed pitcher with a strong slider to the mix.
The news was reported by Jon Heyman: The Yanks have signed Drake Fellows, who was a free agent out of the Pittsburgh Pirates' system.
"Pen candidate," Heyman wrote. "Big K rate with slider."
Fellows comes from the pitching factory of Vanderbilt. He was a sixth-round pick out of Vandy by the San Diego Padres in 2019.
He's 27 years old now, and he never actually pitched in the Padres' system before being acquired by the Pirates.
Fellows has climbed as high as Triple-A Indianapolis in each of the past two seasons.
In 2024, he had a 5.73 ERA at that level.
He lowered his Triple-A ERA to 4.41 in 2025, mixing in 19 starts and 14 relief appearances.
MORE: Christian Yelich shows his puppy a proper appreciation of Tavon Austin
In 112.1 innings pitched this season, Fellows had 94 strikeouts and 46 walks.
Based on Heyman's positive comment on Fellows' slider, his fastball may not quite be up to speed, given his career minor league strikeout rate is a rather pedestrian 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings.
The Yankees targeted him pretty early in the offseason, though, so they must like Fellows' potential as a big-bodied relief pitcher.
It's a low-risk signing, and if the Yanks get a bullpen piece out of it, all the better.
More MLB news:
- Dodgers' payroll is even more loaded with Edwin Diaz
- It's a good day to remember Bob Feller's brilliance and his time in the U.S. Navy
- How Aroldis Chapman is able to pitch for Great Britain in the WBC
- What the Kyle Schwarber signing means for the Pittsburgh Pirates
- Poetic paragraph reveals Cody Bellinger's free agent landing spots
- Royals keep Maikel Garcia around for a long time