KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Before Michael Tonkin earned his first save with the New York Yankees on Monday night, before he entered manager Aaron Boone’s circle of trusted crunch-time relievers and before general manager Brian Cashman picked him from the waiver scrap heap, Tonkin felt numb.
Over the years, he had become calloused to rejection, and he knew the New York Mets were about to dump him. It was April 21 and he was gassed, having just thrown two scoreless innings in a blowout loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers one night after he had struggled.
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“I was basically walking around the clubhouse after the game just looking at the coaches like, ‘OK, who’s going to grab me?’” he said. “Sure enough, one of them came.”
To say it was the moment that set Tonkin on track to becoming a sudden Yankees revelation would be an oversimplification.
Sure, a few days later, he was wearing pinstripes. But by then, the 34-year-old had already been through so much he was ready for whatever challenges landing in the back of the bullpen for the first-place Yankees might bring.
“My career has not been the most glamorous,” he said Tuesday in the clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium.
Later that night, he watched from the bullpen beyond the left-field fence as the Yankees drubbed the Kansas City Royals 10-1. He saw Marcus Stroman throw 5 2/3 scoreless innings and saw long home runs from Austin Wells, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton as the Yankees improved to 48-21 — the best record in the American League.
The view beat the hell out of all the other places baseball has taken him since the Minnesota Twins cut him seven years ago.
There was Japan. Then there was the baseball-less pandemic and the park around the corner from his house. And then there were independent leagues in Long Island and Tijuana, Mexico, the winter league in the Dominican Republic and more than a few thoughts that maybe 2017 would be the last time he’d pitch in the big leagues.
But Tonkin’s 0.89 ERA in 14 appearances is just another one of the many things going right for the Yankees.
Michael Tonkin in his last 7 games has been lights out:
10 IP, 0.00 ERA, 10 Ks, 1 SV
Have the Yankees found a new weapon out of the bullpen? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/Hf0LbdHYQJ
— 4 Train Savages (@FourSavages) June 11, 2024
Those around him have raved about him.
“He’s not afraid of anybody,” catcher Jose Trevino said.
“He’s done a really nice job,” pitching coach Matt Blake said.
“He’s fearless out there and really, really competitive,” Boone said.
Even Tonkin is upbeat.
“It’s good to get in a groove,” he said Monday night.
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But not long ago, Tonkin was in a rut. He’d pitched poorly in Japan in 2018. In 2019, he struggled at Triple A with the Milwaukee Brewers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. In 2020, he watched the MLB season from the couch while throwing and trying to keep in shape. He even took on part-time work trimming palm trees near where he lived in Southern California.
That was when Tonkin made changes. Watching on TV in 2020, he noticed that many of the game’s hard throwers were using a shorter arm motion. He tried it during a catch session with a friend, making sure his hand didn’t drop beyond his belt before he whipped it over his head and delivered a pitch. It felt good, and the high-tech monitor he was using told him he was throwing harder than he had in a while.
“It kind of showed me that I can’t stop now,” he said. “I’ve got to give it another shot.”
So, when the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League called him for a second stint in 2021 — he’d also pitched there in 2019 — he was ready.
Not just to pitch again, but for something more final.
“The plan was that if my stuff was still there, I’m hopefully going to get a job, and if not, I can accept that it’s done and I know that I did everything in my power to see it through,” he said.
Tonkin dominated in Long Island with a 0.53 ERA in 16 appearances, and though no MLB teams came calling, he felt good enough to continue trying later that season in Tijuana.
A few months later, he posted a 0.68 ERA in 13 games in the Dominican winter league. Finally, a team reached out: the Atlanta Braves. Tonkin jumped at the chance.
“There was not a lot of negotiation,” he said.
Tonkin was productive in the minors in 2022 and returned to the majors in 2023, pitching to a 4.28 ERA in 45 games for the Braves before signing in the offseason with the Mets. But from April 5 to April 22, he was cut by the Mets, the Twins and the Mets again. When the Yankees reached out, it was because of a perfect storm: They needed a reliever who could provide length and fill up the strike zone.
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“He had had some success, but he just hadn’t gotten into a rhythm with those teams, and it was just an interesting guy at the right time,” Blake said.
With the Yankees, Tonkin has changed a bit. He has two sliders — one shorter and sharper than the other — and he’s throwing them more often. He’s also learned to harness a two-seamer that he picked up in spring training, which has helped him to a 3.7 percent barrel rate, placing him in the 91st percentile of all pitchers.
It also helps that he’s channeled all his struggles into a nasty persona on the mound.
“He doesn’t care who’s up there,” Trevino said. “He’s ready to get anybody.”
“He’s got guts,” Boone said.
Tonkin knows his spot isn’t exactly safe. He’s pitched well, but the Yankees could look for upgrades at the trade deadline as they look as good as they have at any time since their last World Series win in 2009.
But Tonkin knows he can look back at all he’s been through to get him to where he needs to be.
“To be here now,” he said, “it’s all been worth it.”
(Photo: Vincent Carchietta / USA Today)