David Hale doesn’t have the profile Gleyber Torres does, but the right-handed pitcher does have one thing in common with the Yankees’ top position player prospect: They each arrived in The Bronx on Sunday.
Hale, a 30-year-old right-hander, was summoned from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to provide depth for a bullpen that has been leaned on heavily. In three starts with the RailRiders, Hale went 0-1 with a 5.52 ERA. He was signed as a minor league free agent in late January.
“He gives us length,’’ Aaron Boone said of Hale, who was a third-round pick of the Braves out of Princeton in 2009, before the Yankees’ 5-1 win over the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium. “As much as [Jordan Montgomery] picked us up [Saturday] and we have [Luis Severino] going [Sunday], we have still used our pen a lot.’’
Boone, who lost Adam Warren to the DL with a back muscle problem Saturday and watched Domingo German throw 47 pitches Friday night, needed somebody for more than an inning.
“We feel Hale is the guy who is stretched out,” Boone said of Hale, who worked six innings in his first Triple-A start and 4 2/3 and four in his following outings. “He is a guy with experience and can come in and pound the strike zone.”
Hale has a 10-10 record and 4.48 ERA in 66 big league games (20 starts). He last appeared in the major leagues working two games for the Rockies in 2016. Hale spent 2017 with Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Infielders Tyler Wade and Jace Peterson were jettisoned to make room for Torres and Hale. Wade was optioned to SWB and Peterson designated for assignment.
Wade hit .086 (3-for-35) in 13 games for the Yankees after making the team out of spring training. Inconsistent playing time due to a string of lefty pitchers started by the opposition, a two-day flu bug and Ronald Torreyes’ hot bat led to the demotion.
Peterson, a non-roster invite to spring training, was signed to a major league deal April 7, designated for assignment three days later, opted for free agency April 15 and re-signed to the major league roster April 16. In three games, he batted .300 (3-for-10).
