News Now: On Friday, the Yankees could bring a hard-throwing reliever back from the injured list.

Nick Burdi started a rehab assignment this weekend that the Yankees had planned to begin in Somerset, but due to severe weather, he was shifted to Scranton. After throwing a perfect 1-2-3 inning with three strikeouts, he looked sharp with a fastball at 97-98 MPH and a slider that looked as vicious as it did when he was healthy. The right-hander had seven scoreless outings for the Yankees before being shelved for a while due to hip pain, but Aaron Boone said before today’s game that he could return on Friday.

He wouldn’t have been able to pitch in this series because he threw out of the bullpen yesterday and is expected to be recovering from that session. Having said that, they could get a significant boost to their bullpen when they visit to Tampa this weekend.

Nick Burdi May Join the Yankees This Weekend.

The highlight of Nick Burdi’s arsenal is his power fastball, which consistently sits in the high 90s and occasionally reaches triple digits. His quick slider complements it well, and the total arsenal is enhanced by the fact that he has such a unique arm slot. The Yankees were impressed with his Spring Training performance and stats, so they added him to their 40-man roster before of Opening Day.

Burdi has a 0.00 ERA and eight strikeouts to five walks in 6.1 innings with the Bronx Bombers, a ratio that needs to be improved, but it is also a very tiny sample size. However, his elite-level stuff makes it incredibly difficult to make meaningful contact against him, with hitters having an average exit velocity of 81.1 MPH and not barreling up a single baseball against him.

Similar to Luis Gil, his stuff is so strong that batters can work walks but still fail to score runs in the inning because they can’t make the contact required to put runs on the board, though Burdi’s command concerns make him a question mark when inheriting runners. The stuff is overpowering, and the Yankees already have baseball’s best bullpen ERA (2.22), so adding him and likely replacing Michael Tonkin on the roster will further improve this reliever group.