How Yankees began preparing Justus Sheffield for September call-up

The Yankees are planning to give prized left-handed pitching prospect Justus Sheffield a first big-league call-up by early September.

MIAMI — The late-season plan that the Yankees concocted for top pitching prospect Justus Sheffield was set in motion Tuesday night in Buffalo.

The 22-year-old left-hander was scratched from his scheduled start for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, sent to the bullpen and then called on to pitch in relief.

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Sheffield fared well, as he worked two scoreless innings for the RailRiders in an International League game that was suspended after eight innings due to rain with the score tied 1-1.

Sheffield was moved into a relief role to prepare for a first promotion to the big leagues in which the Yankees envision him being a valuable multiple-inning bullpen piece for September and possibly postseason play.

“We’ve started to transition him to the bullpen so that hopefully he can get a couple outings under his belt down there and then play a part with us in our ‘pen down the stretch,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday night after his club’s 2-1, 12-inning win over the Miami Marlins. “We think obviously there’s some great value that he can bring in our bullpen towards the end of his season and our season.”

Sheffield probably will be one of the Yankees’ call-ups on Sept. 1 when 25-man rosters can be expanded, but he needs to be added to the organization’s 40-man roster by midnight Aug. 31 to be eligible for postseason play.

Acquired two Julys ago from the Cleveland Indians in the Andrew Miller trade, Sheffield has developed into one of baseball’s top prospects. He’s currently ranked by MLB Pipeline as the 27th-best prospect and third-best left-handed pitching prospect. He’s also ranked as the Yankees’ second-best prospect behind outfielder Estevan Florial.

Sheffield’s had a very good season, going 6-6 with a 2.52 ERA in 22 Double-A and Triple-A outings. He’s 5-4 with a 2.61 ERA in 17 games since being promoted from Trenton to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on May 4.

Against Buffalo, Sheffield entered a 1-1 game in the seventh and allowed no runs on two hits while striking out two and walking none in a two-inning outing in which he threw 36 pitches, 25 for strikes.

This outing was a strong rebound performance from his last start, an outing in which he gave up five runs on four hits and five walks over 1 2/3 innings in a loss against Indianapolis on Aug. 15. Before that game, he had pitched to a 1.27 ERA (35.1 IP, 5 ER) in a stretch of seven starts.

The Yankees still envision Sheffield as a starting pitcher again in 2019, but they want to use him this year in a similar relief role that Boston Red Sox star lefty starter David Price excelled in when he first reached the big leagues with the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays.

Part of the reason the Yankees think Sheffield can help them as a reliever this year is he’s been very tough on lefties, as held held them to a .160 average compared to .224 for righties.

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.