Minor-leaguer thought trade from Yankees to Rockies was prank

The Colorado Rockies acquired minor-league pitcher Phillip Diehl from the New York Yankees for outfielder Mike Tauchman on Saturday, the team announced.

Diehl, a 24-year-old left-hander who topped out at Double-A in 2018, was taken aback by the news. In fact, he initially thought the whole thing was a prank in retaliation for cutting in front of veteran CC Sabathia while waiting for a haircut, according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.

"Is this for real?" he asked manager Aaron Boone.

Yes, it is.

Pitching exclusively out of the bullpen, Diehl was effective across two minor-league levels in 2018. He went 2-3 with a 2.51 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, and 12.9 K/9 over 75 1/3 innings.