KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Scott Effross has found his round-about way back to the Yankees.
The reliever joined the club on Thursday at Kauffman Stadium as a fresh bullpen arm after the Yankees optioned lefty Brent Headrick to Triple-A earlier in the day.
Effross has battled injuries for most of his Yankees tenure after arriving at the 2022 trade deadline, most recently straining his hamstring on his first pitch of a Grapefruit League outing in late February, costing him a chance to make the roster out of camp.
After he completed a rehab assignment for that injury, the Yankees optioned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to get more games under his belt.
The 31-year-old righty gave up eight earned runs in 5 ⅔ innings at SWB, with two walks and nine strikeouts, though he had not allowed an earned run in either of his last two outings — the last one on June 8.
The side-arming Effross posted a 2.13 ERA in 13 games for the Yankees after arriving in the trade from the Cubs, but then underwent Tommy John surgery in October of 2022.
He then had back surgery — a microdiscectomy of the lumbar spine — in December of 2023, knocking him out until July of last year.
He spent most of the rest of the season at Triple-A knocking off rust before making three appearances for the Yankees in September.