Healthy Eric Reyzelman dreaming big and opening eyes after surprise Yankees breakout
Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees from spring training CLEARWATER, Fla.— Eric Reyzelman’s breakout season surprised even Eric Reyzelman. Last year, the Yankees prospect was largely happy just to be back on a mound.
He had undergone Tommy John surgery as a freshman at the University of San Francisco.He finished collegiately at LSU, where he just about threw only a fastball and rode that fastball to become a fifth-round pick of the Yankees in 2022.
He proceeded to appear in just nine games in his first two professional seasons because of more injury issues: Back pain was sourced to a cyst on his back that required a series of surgeries to fix. He took the mound in 2024 as a forgotten prospect who finally was healthy and now was differently equipped: a one-pitch arsenal had expanded to three, having learned a slider and changeup while rehabbing.A pitcher who used to have to “find a way,” he said, through guts and smarts found himself able to blaze past hitters instead. He soared through the system last year, touching three levels and finishing at Double-A Somerset in a campaign that finished with a 1.16 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 38 ²/₃ innings. “Going out and seeing how it did play, and how the results looked,” Reyzelman said this week, “at first, it was a shock.” He and hitters were equally baffled about overpowering stuff that resulted in a ridiculous stat line and an invitation to major league camp.
This camp began poorly — an allergic reaction sent him to the hospital before the Grapefruit League season even had started — but has taken a turn toward what might be the new norm for Reyzelman. In his second appearance of the exhibition season, Reyzelman faced three batters and sent them all back to the dugout with their heads down.Phillies hitters on Thursday swung at eight of his pitches and missed five times, Reyzelman reachin...