Yankees not yet ready to ‘cast off’ struggling Camilo Doval nearly one year after brutal deadline deal
PHILADELPHIA — Like the Ghost of Trade Deadlines Past, Camilo Doval remains in the Yankee bullpen.
While David Bednar has performed well — and been excellent of late — in the closer role, the other late-game reliever the Yankees picked up a year ago still hasn’t found a role in which he’s had any success with the Yankees.
So far, the Yankees haven’t given up on the hard-throwing right-hander, as they have appeared to with Jake Bird, another bust of the 2025 deadline.
Still, Doval entered Saturday having not pitched a scoreless inning in a Yankee victory since June 14.
He’s fallen behind just about everyone in the bullpen, from high-leverage relievers like Bednar and Fernando Cruz to lefties Tim Hill and Brent Headrick, as well as Paul Blackburn and even Angel Chivilli, who has shown promise lately.
After giving up 10 runs — four earned — in three appearances to start the month, the right-hander has tossed two scoreless outings, but still walked four in 2 ⅓ innings.
Aaron Boone, before Saturday’s game, said he wasn’t ready to write off Doval just yet.
“I’m hoping he works his way back into a significant role,’’ Boone said. “We cast off people all the time during a long major league season and the reality is, things change and they can change in a hurry sometimes.”
It’s been nearly a year, though, since Doval arrived from the Giants before last year’s deadline, where he was having a solid bounceback season after an ugly 2024.
But since arriving in The Bronx, Doval has seen his WHIP jump from 1.261 in four-plus seasons with the Giants to 1.473 as a Yankee.
Not only has he given up more base runners, he’s also allowed more homers and struck out fewer batters.
He hasn’t gotten meaningful outs in a win in over a month.
Boone said Saturday the team had tried to get Doval in “positions where it’s the best chance to be successful and hope from there things snowball because there’s a lot of things to like there.”
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Other than throwing hard, Doval hasn’t come as advertised with the Yankees, who have seen other relievers emerge in his place.
But the fact Doval can hit triple digits and has the ability to strike people out continues to tantalize the Yankees — and perhaps it will persuade another team to buy low on him at the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
As of now, though, it’s hard to imagine his stock being any lower.
“Guys as talented as Camilo, there are stories every year of guys flipping the script over the course of a year,’’ Boone said. “We hope to do that with Camilo.”
