This story was excerpted from Bryan Hoch’s Yankees Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Zach McAllister always believed he would pitch for the Yankees. He just couldn’t have predicted that it would take 17 years to get there.

McAllister beamed brightly after making his Bombers debut on Tuesday evening at Fenway Park, tossing a scoreless sixth inning in the Yanks’ 4-1 win over the Red Sox. For McAllister, who was originally drafted by New York in 2006, the outing represented a “full circle” moment.

“Being able to play in the big leagues for a while, I thought that I would love to be able to come here and finish what I started,” McAllister said. “To do that and be able to say that I accomplished it, it’s very special.”

The 35-year-old McAllister was part of the Draft class that put Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain, Dellin Betances, Mark Melancon and David Robertson on the pipeline toward New York. The right-hander pitched at every level of the Yanks’ farm system, but was traded to Cleveland in August 2010 in a deal for outfielder Austin Kearns.

Kearns played just 36 games in a Yankees uniform, part of the roster that fell to the Rangers in that year’s American League Championship Series. McAllister went on to perform well in Cleveland, posting a 4.08 ERA in 281 games (68 starts) from 2011-2018. Before Tuesday, his most recent big league appearance had come on Aug. 16, 2018, as a member of the Tigers.

Injuries and inconsistency kept McAllister out of The Show after that ’18 season, bouncing between the Dodgers, Phillies, Cardinals and D-backs organizations. He said that the most difficult challenge was a fractured right humerus, which he sustained while long-tossing with switch-pitcher Pat Venditte in 2020.

“On one throw, it just snapped in half,” McAllister said. “That was the worst pain I’ve ever had. I blacked out a little bit. I didn’t really know where my arm was. That was one of the scariest moments.”

The fractured humerus inspired McAllister to change his arm angle, and he now attacks hitters with more of a three-quarters delivery. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 17-year difference between McAllister being drafted and debuting with the club is the largest gap in franchise history. Infielder Mike Fischlin (drafted in 1975, debut in 1986) is the only other such player to have a 10-plus year gap.

“Not everyone has the will and fortitude to stick it out,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Credit to him for not letting the journey end, going through a long road to get back to having that opportunity out there.”

Even in the darkest days of his recovery, McAllister said that he never seriously considered calling it a career, believing that there were still more innings to pitch. He credited his wife, family members and friends for pushing him to keep going.

“I wanted to keep playing,” McAllister said. “I still felt like I was capable of pitching and being successful. I always believed that. If I wasn’t able to come back from the injuries, I was perfectly content with being able to say that. But as soon as I dropped down a little bit, it made things a lot easier for me and I was like, ‘All right, this is something I can run with.’”