Despite struggles, Yankees’ Camilo Doval says: ‘I’ve never felt this good’

NEW YORK — The New York Yankees continue to back struggling reliever Camilo Doval — and he feels like he’s actually in a better spot than he’s ever been before.

“In my career as a pitcher,” Doval said, “I’ve never felt this good.”

Doval was speaking through the Yankees’ Spanish interpreter after a 6-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. It was the club’s ninth loss in 10 games.

He talked outside the clubhouse to reporters from The Athletic and the New York Post before getting on the team bus to head to the airport for Florida, where the Yankees will begin a key series with the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday.

Doval added that he’s “confident in all my pitches” and that “it’s just like I’m not getting the result I expect out of myself — something that sometimes is out of your control. You execute pitches, and then you don’t get the results you want.”

Doval has perhaps been the Yankees’ most disappointing reliever, with a 4.67 ERA in 39 games earning him a demotion to mostly low-leverage situations lately.

It’s been a precipitous fall for the 29-year-old, who in 2023 with the San Francisco Giants tied for the National League lead with 39 saves and made the All-Star team.

Last trade deadline, the Yankees sent four prospects to the Giants for Doval, hoping he would rack up strikeouts in the late innings alongside closer David Bednar.

Instead, Doval struggled in the second half last year, and he hasn’t made much progress this season.

Although righties have hit just .143 against him, lefties have crushed him with a .388 average and a .627 slugging percentage in 67 at-bats.

“I think the lefties — you’ve got to attack the zone,” Doval said. “You’ve got to be able to execute and attack the zone. You can’t lose faith in yourself, even when you’re not getting the results against lefties. Just want to be able to keep attacking and being as consistent as possible.”

Manager Aaron Boone seemed to dismiss the idea that a stint at Triple A might be a better place for Doval to work on his game.

“The bottom line is,” Boone said postgame, “he’s got to be part of our solution here.

“We’re up against it a little bit from an attrition standpoint. I know nobody likes hearing it, but he’s throwing the ball really well.”

Doval pitched the sixth inning Sunday, giving up two runs (none earned), two hits and a walk, and recording a strikeout. The Yankees were down 4-0 when he entered.

In some ways, the outing was emblematic of Doval’s disappointing season.

His massive struggles against lefty hitters continued as Brooks Lee started the inning with a double. Then shortstop Anthony Volpe dropped a chopper from the Twins’ No. 8 hitter, Ryan Kreider, for an error.

Volpe charged with an error pic.twitter.com/CljmAPwrTU

— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 5, 2026

In the next at-bat, Luke Keaschall loaded the bases when he accidentally popped a bunt into the air and the ball landed in the area behind the mound and in front of shortstop.

Then Doval fell behind Austin Martin, 3-1, before losing him and walking in a run. After a strikeout, lefty Kody Clemens hit a sacrifice fly to right field to extend Minnesota’s lead to 6-0.

Boone called Doval’s outing “weird.”

“We don’t make a play behind him,” the manager said. “They don’t execute a bunt that happens to land in no man’s land out there beyond the mound. It’s like (shrug). A little bit of those things, and then the lefties have hurt us still with driving the baseball against him.”

Boone acknowledged the Yankees are trying to “get (Doval) into lower-leverage spots to where he builds a couple outings, builds momentum.”

The Yankees are expected to look for bullpen arms — potentially two or three — at the trade deadline, especially after top prospect Carlos Lagrange suffered a shoulder strain that will keep him from throwing for six weeks, likely ending the 23-year-old’s chances to help in the majors this season. Bednar, Fernando Cruz and Brent Headrick have essentially been the Yankees’ only reliable relievers of late, though Paul Blackburn has had a good stretch too.

“The stuff and the track record says (Doval) should be part of the solution,” Boone said. “That’s how I’m looking at it right now.”

Before the game, Boone said the Yankees still believe Doval, who is under team control through next season, could recapture the magic from his heights in San Francisco.

“Physically, all the attributes are there and the stuff is all there,” the manager said. “(They) are in line with who he was when he has been at his very best. We’re not talking about an older player that’s lost a little bit and he’s trying to reinvent himself. Yeah, that’s the challenge, and trying to get him unlocked and more consistent.”