While some of the bigger name acquisitions in recent years haven’t always worked out, the Yankees have a pretty good record at getting good bullpen years out of unheralded places. To varying degrees of excellence,
Luke Weaver, Tim Hill, and Jake Cousins are among those just in the last two years who’ve ended up being key pieces of the bullpen on a good Yankees’ team.
Another person you can throw in that group has been Ian Hamilton, having come out of basically nowhere to be a key arm in 2023. While they’ve been a bit injury hit, the last two seasons haven’t been as excellent for Hamilton, and this past year he ended up in the minor leagues due to that.
Grade: D-
2025 Statistics: 36 games, 40.0 innings pitched, 4.28 ERA, 96 ERA+, 4.39 FIP, 4.38 xFIP, 25.3 K%, 13.3 BB%, 0.0 fWAR
2026 Contract Status: First year arbitration eligible (MLB Trade Rumors projects $941K)
Hamilton started the 2025 season on the injured list, having suffered a viral infection in spring training which put him behind schedule in ramping up for the year. When he did get back on the field, Hamilton was pretty solid to start. Through his first eight games of the year, he had a 1.74 ERA and a 2.17 FIP, and was striking out over a batter an inning.
A couple bad outings in early May caused his numbers to inflate quite a bit, but he slowly and surely lowered them back down over the course of the next couple months. However, then July began.
Just as the Yankees’ bullpen began imploding in general, showing the need for them to do something in the trade market, Hamilton was part of those woes. Over a stretch from July 18th-28th, Hamilton allowed five runs in 3.2 innings, ballooning both his ERA and his FIP. With the Yankees then making the several bullpen moves they did at the trade deadline, that left them needing to make some moves. Hamilton still had options, so he was the choice, and the Yankees sent him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at the end of July.
Considering what he has shown himself capable of doing in the majors at times, it wouldn’t have been shocking if he had pitched his way back into the bullpen at some point, maybe as at least a September call-up. That is not what happened, though. In 18 innings at the Triple-A level, Hamilton put up even worse numbers than he had been in the majors. He had a 6.00 ERA as he also had some issues with control, walking 12 batters in that time. Doing that is not a recipe to get recalled, especially considering the Yankees were in a fight for the division and couldn’t afford to let anyone work through things at the major league level.
Going into 2026, Hamilton is now arbitration eligible. It wouldn’t be entirely shocking if they just decided to cut bait and try and find a new version of him somewhere. On the other hand, the struggles and injury issues mean that his projected salary won’t actually be all that much even going into arbitration. There is proof of concept of him working well in the organization. You could also just keep him for a bit and make a decision later if it’s clear 2023 was still just a flash in the pan.
Getting consistency year to year out of relievers not named Mariano Rivera is famously very difficult to do. It’s quite possible 2023 was just a one off for Hamilton, but he was impressive enough in that year that you understand why the Yankees have kept trying.
