Yankees reliever elects free agency

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone.

Yankees left-hander Clayton Andrews rejected an outright assignment to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in favor of free agency, the team announced.

Andrews wasn’t claimed off waivers following his recent DFA. As a player who’s been previously outrighted earlier in his career (back in April by the Yankees), he had the right to decline a minor league assignment. He’ll now explore other opportunities around the league (though a new minor league deal with New York is certainly possible).

The 27-year-old Andrews appeared in one game with the Yankees this season and allowed three runs in just one-third of an inning. He’s been tagged for an unsightly 10 earned runs in a total of 3 2/3 MLB frames over the past two seasons between the Yankees and Brewers — his only big league work to date.

Andrews’ 2024 struggles extend beyond that brief time on the big league roster. He’s tossed 24 2/3 innings in Triple-A and been tagged for a 5.84 ERA with nearly as many walks (20.4 percent) as strikeouts (25.9 percent). That said, he pitched 57 innings of 2.53 ERA ball with a hearty 31.1 percent strikeout rate for the Brewers’ Triple-A club in Nashville as recently as last season.

Andrews has a 3.66 ERA in 91 career Triple-A innings and an overall 3.49 earned run average in parts of six minor league seasons since being selected in the 17th round by the Brewers back in 2018. Walks have always been an issue for the undersized (5-foot-6) lefty, but Andrews has fanned 29 percent of his Triple-A opponents and nearly one-third of his total minor league opponents since being drafted.

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