{"id":388613,"date":"2026-01-05T05:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T05:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/388613\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T05:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T05:29:09","slug":"yankees-sign-adam-kloffenstein-payton-henry-to-minors-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/388613\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees Sign Adam Kloffenstein, Payton Henry To Minors Contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Yankees signed right-hander Adam Kloffenstein<\/a> and catcher Payton Henry<\/a> to minor league contracts in December, according to the club\u2019s official transactions page<\/a>.\u00a0 7 News Boston\u2019s Ari Alexander writes<\/a> that Kloffenstein\u2019s deal includes an invitation to New York\u2019s big league spring camp.<\/p>\n

Kloffenstein\u2019s MLB resume consists of one perfect inning of relief work for the Cardinals in their 6-5 win over the Giants on June 20, 2024.\u00a0 He was sent back to Triple-A the next day, and some shoulder problems likely prevented another call-up to the active roster.\u00a0 St. Louis non-tendered Kloffenstein after the season and he inked a minors deal with the Blue Jays \u2014 the team that began the righty\u2019s pro career as a third-round pick in the 2018 draft.<\/p>\n

This return to the Jays organization didn\u2019t go well, as Kloffenstein was tagged for 20 homers over 82 innings with Triple-A Buffalo while posting a 6.26 ERA and 11.7% walk rate.\u00a0 He also spent the first two months of the season on the injured list, Kloffenstein elected minor league free agency at season\u2019s end, and he\u2019ll now head to the Yankees to try and get his career on track.<\/p>\n

Kloffenstein has a 5.01 ERA, 21.57% strikeout rate, and 11.55% walk rate over 210 1\/3 Triple-A innings, starting 41 of his 45 Triple-A games.\u00a0 He also had a 4.63 ERA over 175 Double-A frames, further impeding his status as a starting pitching prospect on the Jays\u2019 and Cardinals\u2019 minor league ladders.\u00a0 Still only 25 years old, there\u2019s plenty of time for Kloffenstein to figure things out, and the Yankees pitching development department has had quite a bit of success helping unheralded or struggling pitchers unlock something on the mound.<\/p>\n

Henry also has a limited amount of big league experience, as he hasn\u2019t been back to the Show since appearing in 20 games with the Marlins in 2021-22.\u00a0 Traded to Milwaukee during the 2022-23 offseason, Henry has spent the last three years in the minors with the Brewers, Blue Jays, and Phillies without getting into another MLB game.\u00a0 In 2024, Henry was limited to 27 games with Triple-A Buffalo after he was struck in the head by an opposing hitter\u2019s backswing, and spent a three-month stint on the IL.<\/p>\n

Henry has a .261\/.329\/.414 slash line over 862 Triple-A plate appearances, plus a .523 OPS over 51 PA in the majors.\u00a0 Regarded as a solid defensive catcher, Henry will join Ali Sanchez<\/a> as minor league signings providing some competition in camp and potentially acting as Triple-A depth during the season.\u00a0 New York is pretty set behind the plate with Austin Wells<\/a>, J.C. Escarra<\/a>, and Ben Rice<\/a> all on the MLB roster, and though Rice will primarily be used as a first baseman, Henry and Sanchez face a narrow path for much playing time in the Bronx.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Yankees signed right-hander Adam Kloffenstein and catcher Payton Henry to minor league contracts in December, according to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[188811,363,188812,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-388613","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-adam-kloffenstein","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-payton-henry","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}