Carlos Lagrange ‘adjusting’ to life as a bullpen regular with Yankees role nearing

DETROIT — The time between Carlos Lagrange’s relief outings is getting shorter, meaning his road to the big leagues could be, too.

The top Yankees pitching prospect has essentially completed the “deload” process as part of his transition from starter to reliever — cutting back on the number of pitches he throws and the days of rest between them — and will now be treated more like a regular, high-leverage bullpen option this week at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

“So far, so good,” pitching coach Matt Blake said Monday at Comerica Park before the Yankees opened a series against the Tigers. “It seems like he’s adjusting to the shorter duration, the shorter workload, getting more accustomed to the build of a reliever. Now we’ll kind of get him pitch, off, pitch, maybe a back-to-back, those kind of things.

“The more we can simulate ahead of time, the better, and the less unknowns you have when he gets up here.”