Yankees Cut Bait With 26-YO Relief Pitcher Battling Tommy John Setback

Mar 30, 2026 | 1:15 PM EDT

Yankees Cut Bait With 26-YO Relief Pitcher Battling Tommy John Setback

Mar 30, 2026 | 1:15 PM EDT

Sports are run by fans and emotion on the field, but off the field, it is all about business, money, and whether you are having an impact on the team or not. And if you are not, teams will not think twice to cut you off. And that is exactly what the New York Yankees have done with Cole Ayers.

He posted on his Instagram, telling, “Unfortunately, I was released from the Yankees this weekend, 6 months into Tommy John Rehab… give your everything to a game, an organization, 26 years healthy never missed a game till the inevitable TJ, but it’s just business.”

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Cole Ayers signed with the New York Yankees on June 6, 2022, per transaction logs. By 2025, he pitched for the Somerset Patriots after his April 25 promotion from Hudson Valley. He entered injury trouble in August 2025, landing on the 7-day injured list on August 16. The issue later worsened, leading to a 60-day injured list placement on March 17, 2026.

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A post shared by Cole Ayers (@coleayers)

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Eleven days later, Somerset released him on March 28 during his ongoing Tommy John rehab.

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Karthik Sri Hari KC

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Karthik Sri Hari KC is a baseball writer at EssentiallySports who reports from the MLB GameDay Desk. A former national-level baseball player, Karthik brings a player’s instincts combined with a journalist’s precision to his coverage of key moments across the league. Known as a stat specialist, he ranks among EssentiallySports’ top three MLB writers, delivering in-depth analysis that goes beyond numbers to highlight team and player strategies. Karthik’s athlete-informed perspective, shaped by years on the field, has earned him a place in the EssentiallySports Journalistic Excellence Program, our internal training initiative where writers develop their reporting and storytelling skills under industry experts. In addition to his writing, Karthik has experience creating educational content during internships, enhancing his research, writing, and communication skills.

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