Justus Sheffield, Yankees' top prospect, finally gets 1st call-up

Prized left-handed pitching prospect Justus Sheffield is expected to be in uniform for the Yankees on Sunday.

NEW YORK — A bad day at the ballpark led to a long-awaited dream come true for Yankees‘ No. 1 prospect Justus Sheffield.

His Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders lost the Governor’s Cup to the Durham Bulls on Saturday with a 6-2 loss in Game 5 of the best-of-five International League championship series and Sheffield contributed to the disappointment with a poor relief outing. But his standout season overall trumped a bad final Triple-A performance of the season, as Sheffield was told after the game that he’s being called up to the big leagues for the first time.

Judge is back | Answering all the questions after surprise return

Although the Yankees haven’t yet announced the roster move – manager Aaron Boone wouldn’t confirm or deny it following his club’s 8-7 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday – Sheffield talked about his promotion in a post-game interview and he’s expected to be in uniform at Yankee Stadium on Sunday.

“I am still at a loss for words,” Sheffield told the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader. “I’m super excited. I just can’t believe it.”

If Sheffield fares well in whatever opportunities that he gets with the Yankees in the final two weeks of the regular season, he may be able to pitch his way onto their postseason roster.

According to MLB Pipeline, Sheffield is the Yankees’ top prospect and the 27th best in the majors.

Sheffield was 7-6 with a 2.58 ERA this season in 25 outings, 20 as a starter, for Double-A Trenton and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

In the International League postseason, he was 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in three relief outings, but he allowed six runs, two of them earned, on nine hits over five innings.

On Sunday, Sheffield relieved starter Domingo German in the third inning and immediately let two inherited baserunners score on a wild pitch and single. The next inning, Durham scored three unearned runs off Sheffield, who hit two batters and was tagged for a three-run double in the frame.

Sheffield still is viewed by the Yankees as a starting pitcher, but his first big-league stint will be as a reliever. He was a starter all season until late August when the Yankees began grooming him for a late-season call-up as a reliever. He did well coming out of the bullpen, pitching to a 1.35 ERA in five regular-season outings with 10 strikeouts and one walk over 13 1/3 innings.

“The transition to the bullpen, obviously, I knew there was something going on there,” Sheffield said. “So it was hard for me to block it out and do my thing. When I did, I felt back to myself. It was one of those things where it was hard to block out.”

Sheffield had been expected to join the Yankees on Sept. 1 when big-league rosters opened up, but the club instead opted to keep him in Triple-A for the RailRiders’ playoffs and give lefty reliever Stephen Tarpley a first major league opportunity.

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