As we mentioned in our previous article, the Yankees just did enough to achieve a .500 win-loss record in July and as we survey the pitchers, we note that many of the starters began to buckle with only Nestor Cortes coming in at the end of the month with an ERA of less then 4.

Michael King was having another excellent month in July, but broke his elbow in the 2/3 of the month and is gone for the long term. You’d never want to see somebody go out with an injury like that, and in reality there is no compensation. However the Yankees did have longterm injuries Domingo German and Jonathan Loaisiga coming back this month. Clarke Schmidt who had been building up his stamina was recalled from Scranton, but oft-injured Luis Severino was lost to the team again.

All things considered, it was a very,very mixed month on the pitching front. Who were the ones who led the way?

* indicates left-handed pitcher. No * indicates right-handed pitcher.

Name/Pos	W	L	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	WHIP
Clarke Schmidt sp/rp	0	0	0.00	2	0	2	0	2	6.0	4	0	0	3	8	1.17
Ryan Weber rp	0	0	0.00	2	0	2	0	1	4.0	1	0	0	1	1	0.50
Albert Abreu rp	1	0	1.42	11	0	4	0	0	12.2	12	2	2	2	12	1.11
Lucas Luetge rp*	1	1	1.42	8	0	3	0	1	12.2	11	3	2	4	17	1.18
Ron Marinaccio rp	0	0	1.59	4	0	0	0	0	5.2	2	1	1	2	6	0.71
Michael King rp	1	2	1.93	8	0	3	0	0	9.1	7	3	2	3	10	1.07
Nestor Cortes sp*	3	0	2.60	5	5	0	0	0	27.2	26	8	8	5	26	1.12
Wandy Peralta rp*	0	2	2.79	11	0	4	0	0	9.2	13	4	3	2	11	1.55
Gerrit Cole sp	3	1	4.03	6	6	0	0	0	38.0	32	18	17	9	51	1.08
Luis Severino sp	1	0	4.50	2	2	0	0	0	8.0	8	4	4	2	4	1.25
JP Sears sp/rp*	0	0	4.82	3	0	0	0	0	9.1	6	5	5	1	7	0.75
Jordan Montgomery sp*	0	2	4.91	6	6	0	0	0	29.1	30	17	16	9	33	1.33
Jameson Taillon sp	1	1	5.04	5	5	0	0	0	25.0	23	14	14	6	23	1.16
Jonathan Loaisiga rp	0	0	6.00	7	0	2	0	0	6.0	8	4	4	1	4	1.50
Aroldis Chapman rp*	0	1	6.75	11	0	1	0	0	9.1	4	7	7	7	13	1.18
Clay Holmes rp	1	2	7.00	10	0	4	0	3	9.0	7	7	7	8	10	1.67
Domingo German sp	0	1	8.22	2	2	0	0	0	7.2	11	7	7	3	9	1.83
Miguel Castro rp	1	0	13.50	2	0	0	0	0	1.1	3	4	2	1	3	3.00
Shane Greene rp	0	0	18.00	1	0	1	0	0	1.0	1	2	2	1	1	2.00
Name/Pos	W	L	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	WHIP

Starters

As already indicated, Nestor Cortes was the best of the rotation. The days when we would speak of his success as a surprise are past, although we would not be too taken aback if he became a little less consistent. In the same way, his inclusion on the All-Star Game roster was a fine tribute to his performances this season, but not “surprising” in the way that we think of Jose Trevino‘s inclusion has being surprising. This month, Nestor not only led the starters in ERA, but in WHIP, and cleared 3 wins and two no-decisions without giving up a loss.

Gerrit Cole also achieved three wins but included a loss in his six starts. His 51 strikeouts on the month led the team by a considerable margin and meant that he was able to dominate most opponents – leading to a 1.08 WHIP.

Jameson Taillon and Jordan Montgomery‘s performances this month overall were nothing special. Taillon was poor at the beginning of the month facing Pittsburgh, but later in July he carried himself well in games against Boston and Kansas City, Montgomery had a fairly even month, but he is constantly plagued by lack of run support from the hitters – see especially the game in Cleveland on the 3rd of July where he gave up only 1 run, but still carried the loss.

The other spot in the rotation was divided between a pitcher who once again fell foul of injury and a second who was struggling after his turn on the injured list. Luis Severino suffered a strain which placed him on the injured list (IL) on the 14th of the month. Until then the month had been going reasonably well for him. Fortunately, a week later the Yankees were able to welcome back Domingo German. Unfortunately, they couldn’t welcome back the temperamental pitcher’s form at the same juncture. His first game back saw him concede 5 runs on 6 hits and a walk in 3 innings in Houston and his appearance in the game with the New York Mets was only marginally better.

Relievers

Of the relievers who were used regularly this month. Albert Abreu led the way. Abreu, who had the left the Yankees and then became a Yankee again, continued on his fine spate of form since his return. His 11 appearances saw him deliver 12.2 innings for an ERA of 1.42 and a WHIP of 1.11. The best left-handed reliever was Lucas Luetge who piched in 8 games, but despite less appearances produced remarkablt similar statistics to Abreu with the same ERA and a marginally higher WHIP. Abreu claimed one win and no losses, Luetge one win, one loss, but balanced the scales with a save. Ironically, whilst Abreu had been wandering around the American League, Luetge was having early season struggles in New York. In July, both were back in harness and once more exceeding expectations.

Michael King’s season came to a premature end with the aforementioned injury. Fortunately, Ron Marinaccio was in the process of rehab assignments and after time with the Somerset Patriots (Double-A) and at Scranton was able to return to take up his role for the last week of the month. He only played in 4 games in July, but represented himself well with a 1.59 ERA and a 0.71 WHIP.

Wandy Peralta had a mixed month and despite some fine performances, also collected two losses. JP Sears, who had previously been used as a spot starter, was limited to 3 appearances, all in relief. The Yankees have not really figured out what they regard as his best roll.

Clarke Schmidt did well in limited appearances this month. Again, the Yankees seem unclear whether they like him better as a starter or a reliever. Whilst Schmidt bounces between the Bronx and Scranton, Ryan Weber seems to do well in all his limited opportunities for the Yankees, but when he claims free agency upon his re-assignment can’t seem to find anyone else willing to take a chance on him, and eventually re-signs as a free agent with Scranton and waits for the carousel ride to begin again.

The remainder of the bullpen seems to have completely lost their collective way and suffered a car crash of a month. Jonathan Loaisiga did not regain his form with his return from the injured list and his ERA ballooned to a straight 6 across 7 appearances, which seems pretty awful until you consider that two others that the Yankees depend upon could arguably be said to have fared worse.

Aroldis Chapman who had been relieved of his closer duties carried a worse ERA on the month than Loaisiga, but a better WHIP. The save opportunities largely went in the direction of Clay Holmes, who had been having a phenomenal season, but now was struggling with his mechanics and served up the worst monthly record of any of the regular members of the bullpen.

Miguel Castro had only just returned from the paternity list, when he suffered an injury which will put him out for a considerable time. Meanwhile, long-term Yankee fans will remember Shane Greene who returned to the Pinstripes to pitch one game, in which he suffered a mashing and was consequently designated for assignment, becoming a free agent.