Two Underrated Arms Who Have Thrived in the Yankees’ Bullpen
Brent Headrick and Paul Blackburn weren't expected to anchor the Yankees' bullpen, but they've emerged as two of the team's most reliable arms this season.
The New York Yankees’ bullpen has been one of the better units for the team so far this season, and the group currently holds the league’s second-best ERA at 3.13 and third-best WHIP at 1.20.
The numbers show that the bullpen has been one of the team’s strengths this season, helping keep them afloat, especially during recent rough stretches.
While names like David Bednar, Fernando Cruz, and Tim Hill are a big part of that, it’s guys like Brent Headrick and Paul Blackburn who have surprisingly been the true workhorses of the group.
Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake has built quite the reputation for his work, and each pitcher is a great demonstration of why Blake is praised for his work with the pitching staff.
Each of these two arms deserves praise for becoming a fixture in the Yankees’ bullpen this season.
Stats were taken prior to play on July 20.
LHP Brent Headrick
Coming into the 2026 season, there was actually a decent amount of talk about how Brent Headrick could be a key piece of the bullpen, but I’m not sure anyone could have foreseen just how valuable he would become.
Headrick showed some promise in 23 innings last season but ended the year with an injury and didn’t pitch in the playoffs. This season, the lefty has taken much of the left-handed relief load off Tim Hill’s shoulders, and for good reason.
Headrick’s 1.4 fWAR is the ninth-best mark among relievers, while his 49.1 innings pitched lead the Yankees’ bullpen. They’re also the 14th-most innings thrown by any reliever in baseball.
Since May 19, Headrick has been nearly unhittable, posting a 0.78 ERA (2 ER) and a 1.09 WHIP with 27 punchouts in 23 innings.
Headrick can certainly strike hitters out, but he is also doing much better at keeping the ball on the ground and limiting the long ball. The lefty has upped his ground-ball rate by nearly eight percentage points to 33.6% while allowing only two home runs all season.
One of the more impressive stats about Headrick is the fact that he has inherited 30 total runners, and only three of them have scored all year.
The true mark of an excellent reliever is performing in pressure situations, and the southpaw has shown that he excels in these moments in 2026.
Headrick is pitching like one of the best relievers in the entire league, and his continued breakout makes the Yankees’ pen a bit fiercer than last year’s playoff bullpen, without even making any deadline moves.
RHP Paul Blackburn
For Paul Blackburn, his journey to becoming an important reliever in this year’s bullpen wasn’t even a topic of conversation when the season started.
There was actually discussion that he and Yarborough would be the long relievers to start the year, only being needed when the team was down several runs or in a pinch, and would eventually be replaced by emerging minor league options or at least by the time the trade deadline arrived.
Now, the conversation around Blackburn is that he has become one of the more reliable arms in the bullpen and is being called upon in high-leverage situations. Blackburn earned his first save of the season against the Nationals to close out the first half, a clear sign of trust from Aaron Boone and the pitching coaches in high-leverage situations.
Since his rough outing on May 13 against the Orioles, where he gave up three earned runs in two innings, Blackburn has been truly excellent and even one of the best relievers in baseball.
In 22 appearances since the bad outing (34.1 IP), Blackburn has posted an absurd 1.05 ERA, a 0.84 WHIP, and a .181 opponent average with 27 strikeouts and just eight walks.
Among qualified relievers since May 16, Blackburn has the sixth-best ERA in MLB at a dazzling 0.84.
Just like Headrick, Blackburn has been truly unreal out of the pen since the middle of May, making the two quite the tandem out of the Yankees’ bullpen recently.
Seeing this success continue would be huge for the team and a career resurgence for the 10-year veteran and former starter.
Final Thoughts
It’s difficult to express how much each pitcher has meant to this team’s bullpen, especially as the rough stretches started to hit.
Their dominance during the stretch is certainly a factor that has kept the Yankees in competitive games, helping the club far more than most would have expected heading into the year.
It’s also another major feather in Matt Blake’s cap, truly showing how far the Yankees’ pitching development has come throughout the organization since Blake was hired in 2019.
Now, the question for each pitcher is whether the success can continue and how Blackburn’s emergence as a trusted option changes how Brian Cashman and the front office attack the trade deadline.
The Yankees already spent significant farm capital during last year’s trade deadline to fix their bullpen, and two of the three arms haven’t contributed as expected (Doval and Bird).
With all that in mind, it seems likely that Cashman would prefer to avoid surrendering that much prospect capital for more volatile relievers, and continued success from both arms could mean one less deal the front office has to make.
For now, we should all simply appreciate the two unhittable workhorses of the Yankees’ first-half bullpen.
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Written by
Originally from Rochester, New York, Cai Rogers graduated from the University of Oregon with degrees in Advertising and Sports Business. Cai is a Lifelong Yankee fan…