Lefty Matt Krook earns promotion to Yankees after 8 minor league seasons

After eight years as a minor leaguer, Matt Krook is one step closer to his big league debut.

The Yankees added the left-hander to their active roster Saturday morning. He replaces Randy Vasquez, who made his major league debut Friday night against the Padres. Vasquez mostly impressed in a loss, but his immediate return to Triple-A was expected since the Yankees needed a spot starter Friday and a fresh arm moving forward.

Krook can be that guy, as the converted starter has been working in a multi-inning relief role with the RailRiders. The job has suited him well, as he recorded a 1.04 ERA over 12 games and 17.1. innings at Triple-A. He also struck out 34 batters while walking 12.

“I really like it. It allows me to face the lineup one time usually. I can throw all four pitches, face a guy one time, so it’s been good for me,” said Krook, whose arsenal leans on sinkers, sweepers, cutters and changeups. “When starting, you’re facing a guy three times. Sometimes you might hide stuff or not show something too early. You’re facing a guy one time, you can just come at him right away with your best stuff.”

Aaron Boone attributed Krook’s success to his deception and swing-and-miss stuff. He also noted that the Yankees have banked on Krook making an impact for a while now, so much so that they thought about adding the minor league veteran to their playoff roster last October.

“He’s hard to hit, and especially hard to hit for lefties,” Boone said. “We became very aware of that last year, to the point of he was in serious consideration to be a part of the postseason with us. And then [we] obviously put him on the [40-man] roster over the winter because we expected him to be a part of this at different points in the year. And he almost makes the team out of spring. But we’ve certainly expected him to be in the mix.”

The 28-year-old Krook has pitched in 172 minor league games, logging 518 innings between the Giants, Rays and Yankees organizations. He didn’t pitch in 2020 when the minor league season was canceled due to the pandemic, but Krook has mostly thrown well in the Yankees’ system since 2021.

Naturally, news of his promotion left Krook ecstatic when he found out Friday night, and he drove to the Bronx from Scranton on Saturday morning. The Yankees would have likely called him up sooner had it not been for a back issue he battled earlier this season, but that’s two weeks behind him now.

“It’s been a long minor league career, probably longer than most,” Krook acknowledged. “So it means a lot to me to be here, and I’m super excited.”