Reyzelman Progressing Through Yankees System

When Alex and Victoria Reyzelman immigrated to the U.S. from the Soviet Union in the 1980s, they didn’t exactly harbor dreams of one day seeing one of their sons inch his way toward taking the mound at Yankee Stadium. Alex and Victoria were Jewish immigrants trying to carve out a fresh life in the States, master a foreign tongue, and establish new careers, as a podiatrist and chiropractor, respectively. And as they settled down in the Bay Area to start a family while grappling with financial issues, professional athletics — and certainly baseball — was never considered a realistic career path for any of their three sons, Ethan, David, and Eric.

But, as their late-blooming middle child, Eric, eventually sprouted over six feet while developing a blistering fastball that started piquing the interest of Division I college coaches leading up to his senior year of high school, they had no choice but to consider the prospect of having a pro ballplayer for a son. Several years later, such a possibility morphed into a reality when the New York Yankees selected Reyzelman in the fifth round of the 2022 MLB Draft. Though his numbers during his junior year at LSU, to which he transferred after pitching for the University of San Francisco (USF) his first two years, were not spectacular — a 1-3 record and a 4.04 ERA across 42.1 innings — the right-handed reliever, his fastball now topping out in the mid-nineties, was still bursting with big-league potential.

After searing back pain and subsequent surgeries to fix a cyst limited Reyzelman to nine games across his first two minor-league seasons, the San Ramon, Calif., native rocketed through New York’s minor-league system last summer, acing his assignments for the Tampa Tarpons, Hudson Valley Renegades, and Somerset Patriots, to earn an invitation to spring training with the big-league club this February. With such scant minor-league seasoning, Reyzelman didn’t crack the Yankees’ opening-day roster but did get assigned to their Triple-A affiliate, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, for whom he has pitched well enough to perhaps earn a one-way ticket to join Max Fried in the Bronx this summer.

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“I don’t even think that I stopped to think about the travel and the moving and the new teams,” Reyzelman shared with the AJT last week when reflecting on his breakout (and nomadic) season a year ago that catapulted him to being on the cusp of the big leagues. “The game being taken away for that year-and-a-half and having to grind and to have to think about really whether or not I’m going to be able to pitch again — that’s how bad it got at times with my back — I was just thrilled to be playing baseball. I just didn’t even acknowledge those issues [moving around]. It was a lot going on, a lot happening in a short time span, but I loved every second of it. This is the healthiest I’ve been, quite possibly ever. I’m excited to keep that going.”

I was just thrilled to be playing baseball.

If there’s any part of Eric Reyzelman’s story that is more fascinating than his familial background — or his battling back from not only the tormenting back issues but also Tommy John surgery during his freshman year at USF — it’s his high school playing career, or, rather, lack thereof. Reyzelman enrolled at De La Salle High School in the East Bay primarily because of the school’s heralded, uber-competitive baseball program. That reputation certainly held true as a year after pitching for one of the school’s two freshman teams, Reyzelman was cut from the junior varsity squad. The next spring, as a junior, he failed to make the varsity or JV teams. That’s when things started changing — quickly.

With no high school baseball games filling up his schedule, Reyzelman committed himself to the weight room while playing in essentially sandlot games on Friday evenings to keep his arm fresh. By June he had not only bulked up but had tweaked his pitching mechanics enough to land a spot on a travel team that participated in regional tournaments. Confident that he could consistently throw multiple pitches for strikes, including most importantly his bread-and-butter fastball, Reyzelman put together a YouTube recruiting video that he sent to the USF coaching staff. Apparently, the USF coaches liked what they saw because they came out to the next game and within a couple weeks offered Reyzelman a spot on the roster — nearly a year before he finally made his high school varsity team. Acknowledged Reyzelman, “it’s not quite the easiest way to make that happen.”

Now, he’s one call away from joining a Yankees pitching staff headlined by Fried, whom he refers to “as intelligent of a baseball mind as I think I might have met in the sport” and performing on one of the grandest stages in all of North American professional sports.

“I’ve pictured my first time stepping on the mound there [Yankee Stadium] as well as getting the phone call or meeting with my Triple-A manager — it’s hard to say that I haven’t pictured that a million times,” confided Reyzelman. “To be honest, I don’t know the exact emotion I will feel when I’m out on the bump. There will be maybe a split-second of pride and happiness, just seeing dreams come to fruition, but realistically, knowing myself and knowing how I operate, I think after that moment kind of fades, I’m going to lock in. And it’s on to the next goal, which for me is winning a World Series, being an All-Star, and helping the Yankees for a long time.”

Even if Alex and Victoria weren’t always fully behind Eric’s baseball dreams as they observed the physical and emotional toll the sport took on their son, they instilled in him values he continues to uphold while blazing his path to Yankee Stadium.

I think after that moment kind of fades, I’m going to lock in. And it’s on to the next goal…

“I think that them being immigrants, having seen the U.S.S.R. firsthand, and growing up in that fashion, I think that it only helped me and my brothers in terms of just being raised the right way, knowing right from wrong. They were strict on us, they made us work really, really hard. I’ve learned a lot of lessons from stories that my family has passed down and plan on continuing to do so. Judaism was a super important part of my life growing up. It has been extremely influential in terms of [not just] baseball success but just life in general,” added Reyzelman, who is very passionate about getting the opportunity to pitch for Team Israel in next year’s World Baseball Classic.

That all three boys have become observant Jews — Eric attended the Chabad-Lubavitch chapter at LSU and later connected with a Chabad in Tampa — went according to plan for mom and dad. Undoubtedly, however, that their two oldest have been so invested in sports and excelled at such an elite level (David was a tight end for Fresno State) was never foreseen. Meanwhile, Ethan, currently a sophomore pitcher at De La Salle High, has landed a spot on the school’s JV roster in his first try, which, as Eric is quick to point out, means his baby brother’s already a step ahead of him.