TAMPA — The first time JP Sears visited New York, it was to undergo shoulder surgery in 2018.
The Yankees left-hander is on the verge of making his second trip a much happier experience.
After throwing three innings in his Grapefruit League finale Monday, Sears said manager Aaron Boone informed him that he had made the team. Boone later told reporters that Sears would “likely” be on the Opening Day roster, but wanted to wait a day before making anything final.
“We’ve been impressed with what we’ve seen of JP,” Boone said after a 5-2 win over the Phillies at Steinbrenner Field. “We feel like his ability to throw strikes, his fastball’s going to play. Thought he was really good today mixing his three pitches. Saw the life on the fastball and saw it play, but his secondary was something that was effective today as well. … So there’s a good chance he’s on.”
Sears, 26, was an 11th-round draft pick of the Mariners in 2017 before being traded to the Yankees that year in a deal for Nick Rumbelow.
After splitting last year between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, mostly as a starter, the 5-foot-11 Sears was added to the 40-man roster and came into camp with the goal of making the team. This spring, he gave up six runs in 6 ²/₃ innings, though five of those runs came in one outing against the Blue Jays.
“I struggled with some injuries early on [in my career] and I learned a lot from that, knowing availability is the biggest thing as far as moving up in the minor leagues,” Sears said. “So I used the COVID year, 2020, to really work on cleaning up my arm path and mechanics. That helps with my health in the long run.”
Two days after the Yankees acquired him in a trade with the Rangers, Jose Trevino made his debut Monday, catching a new pitching staff and going 0-for-3 at the plate.
“That’s gonna be the thing I pride myself on the most is, taking care of the pitchers and making sure the pitchers are good to go,” Trevino said. “After that, we’ll see what we got.”
Trevino, who is expected to back up Kyle Higashioka, started watching video and reading scouting reports of Yankees pitchers on his flight to Tampa on Sunday night to expedite the process of getting to know them.
“As a kid, you just admire this team and you always want to be a Yankee,” Trevino said. “For me, that was my dream.”
Miguel Castro also arrived in the Yankees’ clubhouse Monday, a day after the reliever was traded from the Mets in exchange for Joely Rodriguez.
“The way I see it is it doesn’t matter where they need me, I’ll be right there to help out in that bullpen,” Castro said through an interpreter.