Yankees reveal roster for London Series

The Yankees kick off their two-game set against the Red Sox in London tomorrow, and some roster announcements have been made. Since both teams will be far from home, and can’t exactly call upon their respective Triple-A teams for quick help, they get to bring three extra players. The official roster is a 26-man one, but each team gets two reserve players in case of an injury.

Thairo Estrada was announced as the 26th man. The infielder really impressed with his stint with the Bombers earlier this year, slashing .280/.321/.520 with a 118 wRC+ over 25 games. He was one of the many players who came up from Triple-A and helped this team play high-caliber baseball despite all the injuries. Estrada certainly didn’t deserve to get sent back to Scranton, but the team simply ran out of room for him when injured players started to return.

The two injury reserve players are Kyle Higashioka and Chance Adams. It definitely makes sense to bring a backup catcher and a longman across the pond. Higgy was worth exactly 22 wRC+ during the four MLB games that he played earlier this year when Gary Sanchez was hurt. He has put on quite the power display in Scranton this year though. Through 40 games, Higashioka has 12 home runs. I think he is a fan of the juiced ball.

Adams struggled immensely at the start of the season, but appears to have righted the ship in Triple-A. The right-hander owns a 3.78 ERA (4.09 FIP) through 52.1 innings. He surrendered five earned runs over 11.1 innings in the big leagues this year.

Fingers crossed that we won’t see Higashioka or Adams take the field in London, though. The last thing this team needs is more injuries.