The Yankees signed reliever Justin Topa to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Conor Foley of The YES Network reported the move. Topa steps into a Triple-A bullpen spot vacated by Angel Chivilli, who went on the injured list with an elbow issue (relayed by Gary Phillips of The New York Daily News).
Topa is a Binghamton native who played his college ball at LIU-Brooklyn. He has pitched parts of seven big league seasons between the Brewers, Mariners and Twins. Topa battled various arm injuries, including multiple Tommy John procedures, and only saw limited action with Milwaukee. He had a breakout year at age 32 for the Mariners three seasons ago, firing 69 frames of 2.61 ERA ball.
Seattle traded Topa to Minnesota the following offseason as part of the deal sending Jorge Polanco to the Pacific Northwest. Topa’s injury issues returned and limited him to three appearances in 2024. He had a decent rebound last year, pitching to a 3.90 ERA across 60 innings, but has not performed well in 2026.
Topa was shelled for 18 runs (17 earned) across 19 big league appearances with Minnesota to begin the year. The Twins released him in the middle of May. He has gone to the Blue Jays and Royals on successive minor league contracts without getting back to MLB. Topa has combined for a 1.74 ERA across 20 2/3 Triple-A frames, but he’s only striking out 14% of minor league hitters. He had a 12:11 strikeout-to-walk ratio and one of the lowest whiff rates in the league for Minnesota.
As with many Yankees relievers, Topa is a sinkerballer who gets grounders on more than half the batted balls he allows. He still had a 54.4% ground-ball rate in the majors this season. The sinker sits in the 93-94 mph range and he’ll mix in a cutter, slider and changeup.
Chivilli’s injury comes a few days after the Yankees placed Kervin Castro (elbow neuritis) on the major league injured list. They brought up Bradley Hanner from Triple-A to replace Castro. They don’t have any other healthy pure relievers on the 40-man roster, though one of their pitchers — presumably Hanner or Yerry de los Santos — will be squeezed out when Carlos Rodón is activated. Elmer Rodríguez and Brendan Beck, both of whom are working as starters, are the two currently available pitchers on optional assignment. One or two injuries in the big league bullpen could open a spot for Topa if they want to keep Rodríguez and Beck stretched out.
