Brent Headrick making case to earn role in Yankees bullpen

TAMPA — With a week left in camp before the Yankees head west, Brent Headrick took his latest swing to claim one of the final two bullpen spots. 

The big lefty tossed a scoreless inning of relief and struck out a pair on Sunday in the 12-1 loss to the Tigers at Steinbrenner Field, his fourth scoreless outing in five appearances this spring. 

“I like where he’s at,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I think he can really help us. I think he can be a factor. I think he can be impactful. It’s just about consistently repeating the stuff, time in and time out. That’s what we saw last year — really good one day, little bit of a falloff the next time out. So getting that consistent stuff, because when he’s at his best, it really plays.” 

Headrick, who was still adjusting to being a full-time reliever last season, averaged 93.9 mph with his fastball Sunday, down a tick from his 94 mph average in 2025, though he maxed out at 95.1. 

The Yankees believe he has the ability to handle both lefty and righty bats — which could help his case to make the roster, given that he would be the third lefty in the bullpen, alongside soft-tossers Tim Hill and Ryan Yarbrough — and both of his strikeouts Sunday came against righties. The final two spots are expected to come down to Headrick and righties Jake Bird, Rule 5 pick Cade Winquest and Kervin Castro. 

“I think [Headrick] is taking to becoming a reliever,” Boone said. “I think he trained this winter with that in mind, that he is a reliever. So it’s learning how to bounce back sometimes the next day or pitch four outs and be in play two days later. I feel like he’s training for that now and hopefully that serves him well from a consistency standpoint but also allowing him to be more durable too.” 

Oswaldo Cabrera was a proud countryman Saturday night, watching his native Venezuela knock off Japan in the WBC quarterfinals. 

“I was almost crying for my guys over there,” Cabrera said in Sarasota after the split-squad doubleheader nightcap against the Orioles was washed out in the third inning. “You know how much that [means] for all Venezuelan people. Especially on this side, playing baseball, I know almost everybody who is there [on the team]. They are making a full country so proud. So they are doing a really nice job.” 

Anthony Volpe stood in on Gerrit Cole’s bullpen session Sunday morning just to track pitches as he continues his hitting progression.

Volpe has not yet faced live pitching, but is scheduled to do so in the coming weeks. 

Cody Bellinger was replaced in right field after four innings, but Boone said he was fine and it was just a matter of the veteran playing a third straight day. 

The Yankees made another batch of cuts Sunday, reassigning INF/OF Marco Luciano, INF Braden Shewmake, OF Duke Ellis, OF Yanquiel Fernández, INF/OF Ernesto Martínez Jr., INF Jonathan Ornelas, C Miguel Palma and INF Zack Short to minor league camp.