Yankees Sign Former Pirates Pitcher

The New York Yankees haven't been super proactive in adding to their major league roster just yet this offseason, but they did bring in some bullpen depth days after the Winter Meetings concluded.

Per the New York Post's Jon Heyman, the Yankees have signed right-handed pitcher Drake Fellows to a minor league deal.

Drake Fellows, RHP, signs minors deal with Yankees. Pen candidate. Big K rate with slider.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 12, 2025

Fellows, who has four seasons of pro ball under his belt, could have a chance to thrust himself into the big-league bullpen conversation at some point next season.

Fellows' Background

Fellows played for collegiate powerhouse Vanderbilt, appearing in 51 games and starting 45 of them from 2017 to 2019. The Commodores won the College Baseball World Series in his final year with the program, and he finished his career there with a 4.31 ERA in 275 2/3 innings.

The San Diego Padres selected Fellows in the sixth round of the 2019 MLB Draft, but he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma shortly after. He went into remission in January 2020, and he did not pitch in an official game that year after the minor league season was canceled due to COVID.

Fellows was later dealt to the Pittsburgh Pirates alongside current Yankees closer David Bednar as part of the trade package for Joe Musgrove ahead of the 2021 season.

He remained a member of the Pirates' organization through the 2025 campaign before electing free agency in November. In 33 outings (19 starts) for Triple-A Indianapolis this past season, Fellows logged a 4.41 ERA in 112 1/3 innings with 94 strikeouts and a 1.389 WHIP.

Jun 24, 2019; Omaha, NE, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores starting pitcher Drake Fellows (66) throws the ball during the first inning against the Michigan Wolverines in game one of the championship series of the 2019 College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Thorson-Imagn Images | Bruce Thorson-Imagn Images

What Fellows Brings to the Table

According to the New York Post's Mark W. Sanchez, Fellows' primary pitch is a sinker while the best overall weapon in his arsenal is his slider.

"Fellows often led with a low-90s sinker, but his best pitch is a slider that generated a whiff on over half the swings from opposing batters," Sanchez wrote.

Fellows was successful at missing opposing batters' barrels with a 4.5 percent rate against him in 2025, which ranked in the 69th percentile according to Prospect Savant.

The 27-year-old also displayed impressive command with a walk rate of 9.6 percent, and hitters recorded a middle-of-the-road hard-hit rate of 36.9 percent against him as well.

Fellow's 19.7 percent strikeout rate left something to be desired, though that could've been a byproduct of him starting 19 contests, and his zone contact rate of 87.78 percent fell in the 26th percentile.

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