Brent Headrick is doing something few Yankees relievers ever get the chance to do: he’s putting Mariano Rivera’s name in his sights.
That alone makes the conversation feel bigger than a routine bullpen stat. Rivera, the last Yankee to wear No. 42 and a first-ballot Hall of Famer with a plaque in Monument Park, shares a franchise single-season record that has lasted since 2004.
It isn’t a save mark or a strikeout chase. It’s quieter than that, and maybe tougher to sustain.
Headrick, a left-hander claimed off waivers from the Twins, entered the weekend with 52 scoreless appearances, the most in the majors. He’s now within roughly a dozen clean outings of matching Rivera and Tom Gordon, who each finished with 65 scoreless appearances in that 2004 season.
That’s where this gets wild: Headrick wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near this conversation. He started the year as depth, then turned into one of the Yankees’ most trusted relievers, and the count just keeps climbing during the club’s winning streak.
The 2004 standard he’s chasing came from a bullpen duo that barely gave opponents room to breathe. Rivera closed games and Gordon handled the setup work, and both were nearly automatic.
Rivera saved 53 games, tied for the most in a single season in franchise history, while Gordon went 9-4 with a 2.21 ERA across a league-leading 80 appearances. Together, they each logged 65 outings without allowing an earned run.
That number is the heart of this chase. Not total games.
Not saves. Scoreless appearances - the kind of stat that reflects both reliability and heavy usage in the biggest spots.
Headrick has been exactly that. He owns a 1.55 ERA, and his scoreless-appearance total is already the most by any Yankees pitcher through the first 120 games of a season in franchise history.
Of course, there’s a catch. A chase like this comes with wear and tear, and the Yankees know it.
“Obviously it’s a concern when you get to this volume of work,” pitching coach Matt Blake said. “But it’s something we’ve just got to monitor down the stretch and be smart about trying to win every game versus trying to set ourselves up for October.”
Headrick, for his part, sounds like a pitcher trying to keep the whole thing simple. He said he’s trimming his routine down so the workload comes from the game itself, not from everything around it.
“All of my workload is coming from the game,” Headrick said. “But I’m still able to be built up and go out there with as close to the best version of myself as I can.”
He’s also not interested in living in the rearview mirror.
“It’s crazy to think about how many appearances it’s been,” Headrick said. “But nothing in the past matters.
That’s all over with. Today matters, and when tomorrow comes, that’s what I’ll worry about.”
There’s another layer here, too. Headrick isn’t chasing just one 2004 Yankees mark - he’s after two.
Along with the 65 scoreless appearances shared by Rivera and Gordon, he’s also closing in on Paul Quantrill’s franchise record of 86 total appearances, also set in 2004. Headrick made his 65th total appearance on Aug. 19 and was on pace for more than 80, which would put him in territory no Yankees reliever has reached since Boone Logan in 2012.
That’s the real story of his season: not just dominance, but volume. The Yankees keep turning to him, and he keeps answering.
Brent Headrick has 55 scoreless appearances this season, the most in MLB.
Yankees single-season record is 65, by Tom Gordon (2004) and Mariano Rivera (2004).
The Yankees’ belief in arms like Headrick mattered at the trade deadline, too. They passed on adding a major reliever, and that decision has held up thanks in part to a bullpen that has been one of baseball’s best by ERA. Headrick has been right in the middle of that run.
There’s also help on the way, or at least the possibility of it. Ryan Weathers, Clarke Schmidt and Will Warren could all give the Yankees bullpen innings in October behind a rotation led by Cam Schlittler and Gerrit Cole. That kind of depth would allow Aaron Boone to avoid leaning on Headrick every night.
But for now, the Yankees are still calling his number. And every clean inning brings Rivera and Gordon a little closer, while every appearance edges him nearer to Quantrill.
A waiver claim who started the year as an afterthought is now sitting on the doorstep of one of the more unusual records in Yankees history. The only thing left is the part he can’t control: how many more times the Yankees ask him to go out there.
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