When the Yankees head to spring training to begin the 2022 season, they’ll do so without several cult heroes from the previous season.
Shortstop Andrew Velazquez and outfielders Tim Locastro and Greg Allen were all claimed off waivers by other teams on Friday. The Angels claimed Velazquez while Locastro was picked up by the rival Boston Red Sox and Allen heads to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In addition, little-used catcher Rob Brantly chose free agency instead of being outrighted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
While neither Velazquez or Locastro set the world on fire during their short time with the Yankees, each were memorable in their own way.
Velazquez, known around the clubhouse as Squid, gained notoriety for being a kid from the Bronx who achieved a lifelong dream of playing shortstop for the Yankees. He has just 96 MLB games on his ledger, but 28 of those came this year with his boyhood club, mostly filling in when Gleyber Torres went on the injured list. Velazquez hit .224 and struck out in over a third of his plate appearances, but he showed some serious mettle in the field.
Locastro, on the other hand, put on the Yankee uniform just nine times before tearing his ACL. In early July when the Yankees were losing an outfielder to some new injury seemingly every other day, they traded a relief pitcher to Arizona to get Locastro. Less than a month later, he suffered the devastating knee injury that effectively closed the book on his Yankee career.
Allen got into 15 games in 2021 and, like Locastro, was part of the outfield carousel in the middle of the year. The 28-year-old put up the best numbers of anyone in this group, slashing .270/.417/.432 and making good on all five of his stolen base attempts. Allen handled all three outfield positions for the Bombers, who went 11-4 in the 15 games he played in.
