The Yankees have had a tremendous month in May. They have won 17 games and lost only 9.

At the same time, the performances of some of the players who were strong in April have not continued in the same direction. However, some who struggled in April have turned it around.

Let’s see the performances, strong and weak, first surveyed in statistics and then in text:

Name/Pos	W	L	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	WHIP
Carlos Rodon sp	3	0	1.47	5	5	0	0	0	30.2	20	5	5	7	38	0.88
Jonathan Loaisiga rp	0	0	1.59	6	0	0	0	0	5.2	5	1	1	3	4	1.41
Tyler Matzek rp	0	0	2.08	5	0	2	0	0	4.1	8	1	1	2	5	2.31
Ryan Yarbrough sp	2	0	2.25	4	4	0	0	0	20.0	12	5	5	5	19	0.85
Luke Weaver rp	1	1	2.31	12	0	8	0	6	11.2	8	3	3	2	10	0.86
Max Fried sp	2	1	2.65	6	6	0	0	0	37.1	27	11	11	7	37	0.91
Clarke Schmidt sp	2	1	3.14	5	5	0	0	0	28.2	23	10	10	11	27	1.19
Yerry De Los Santos rp	0	0	3.60	9	0	2	0	0	10.0	14	4	4	6	8	2.00
Tim Hill rp	0	1	3.86	12	0	4	0	0	9.1	8	5	4	3	3	1.18
Devin Williams rp	2	0	4.22	12	0	2	0	1	10.2	7	5	5	4	16	1.03
Will Warren sp/rp	2	2	4.82	6	6	0	0	0	28.0	28	17	15	12	43	1.43
Mark Leiter Jr rp	1	1	4.91	12	0	1	0	1	11.0	13	6	6	3	15	1.45
Fernando Cruz rp	1	2	5.14	7	0	1	0	0	7.0	7	4	4	2	8	1.29
Carlos Carrasco rp/sp	0	0	6.00	1	0	1	0	0	3.0	5	2	2	1	3	2.00
Ian Hamilton rp	1	0	6.75	10	0	2	0	0	10.2	9	8	8	7	15	1.50
Brent Headrick rp	0	0	9.00	3	0	3	0	0	3.0	2	3	3	1	3	1.00
Pablo Reyes if/of/rp	0	0	27.00	1	0	1	0	0	1.0	5	3	3	0	0	5.00
Name/Pos	W	L	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	WHIP

Starters

Carlos Rodon and Max Fried are still very much the strongest part of the rotation – albeit with Rodon perhaps being the strongest in May. Rodon, in his 5 starts, took 3 wins and 2 no -decisions. He led the team with a 1.47 ERA on the month, across 30.2 innings pitched. He was second on the team in strikeouts with 38, just one ahead of Fried on 37. Fried pitched more innings than anyone else on the Yankees this month with 37.1 across 6 starts. He did however take a loss and three no-decisions. His exemplary WHIP of 0.91 was one of three starters below 1 on the team this month (with Rodon leading in this category).

The 5 man rotation was filled out with Will Warren, Ryan Yarbrough and the returning Clarke Schmidt. Both Warren and Yarbrough were surprises in the rotation and had made it there because of injury. Gerrit Cole won’t pitch this season. Luis Gil is gone until July or August. Marcus Stroman is on the injured list and his general demeanour had made his an uncomfortable bed for him to lie in, although the wider injury situation may reopen doors which he seemed to have closed,

By the end of 2024, Will Warren was working out of the bullpen, Yarbrough had found himself included on the 2025 roster as a long reliever. Schmidt’s injuries have meant that he has had very little time to prepare for the season. The difficulties of lack of depth that the Yankees are facing are shown in their sudden inclusion in the rotation.

Warren led the team in May in strikeouts with 43 across only 28 innings. However, he has a tendency to struggle in the first inning before settling down. As a consequence, he has 2 wins, 2 losses and 2 no-decisions – a very mixed bag. Yarbrough has been much better than the Yankees had any right to expect. His ERA of 2.25 (in May) is second among the starters. As a late arrival to the rotation, he made only 4 starts in the month, with 2 wins and 2 no-decisions. His marvellous 0.85 WHIP this month is team leading.

Clarke Schmidt (2 wins, 2 no-decisions, 1 loss) is bouncing back from injury. He struck out 27 in 28.2 innings.

If the Yankees can avoid more injuries, they might just get through the crisis.

Relievers

Fernando Cruz, Mark Leiter, Tim Hill and Luke Weaver were the key links in the relief corps chain in April. That chain should have had 5 links, but new signing Devin Williams pitched abominably in April and had a negative presence in the clubhouse to match that emanating from Marcus Stroman, especially when dealing with the press.

Unfortunately, it seemed that there were some weak links showing by the second half of May. Fernando Cruz’s May ERA was above 5 and he was giving up too many walks and hits by the time he was placed on the injured list retroactive to the 19th of May.

Mark Leiter Jr played in 12 games and added a win and a save to his season totals but he just simply wasn’t displaying the same consistency he had in April. Tim Hill pitched in 12 games also (one more than he had been involved in during April). His ERA rose from 3.18 in April to 3.86 in May although his WHIP if anything was so ever so slightly improved.

The most consistent of the group was Weaver, who added 6 saves and a win to his totals. He did, however, give up a loss. Of the heavily used relievers, he did lead the Yankees in both ERA and WHIP during May. The New York Yankees must be careful that they don’t burn him out.

As other pitchers were struggling with injuries, one who was returning was Jonathan Loaisiga. He returned in the middle of the month after a rehab assignment at Scranton (Triple-A). Since his return, he has done commendably well. He has pitched in 6 games and shown a 1.59 ERA. There are two factors here though. Firstly, he has allowed 8 men to get on base (5 hits, 3 walks) in less than 6 innings. Secondly, there is the niggling fact of those persistent injuries. It is hard not to worry that there is another one coming along any moment.

Yerry De Los Santos‘ importance to the team was shown increasingly in May. In April, he was only used once. In May, he appeared in 9 games – and he was largely consistent. His ERA on the month was 3.60 despite (like Loaisiga) allowing too many men to get to base.

Ian Hamilton, who did well after coming back from injury in April, bombed in May. He played in 10 games, pitched 10.2 innings, but gave up 9 hits and 7 walks (a toal which exceeded his 15 strikeouts). His ERA shot up to 6.75 on the month, after hovering below 2 in the month of April. Hamilton has done far better for the Yankees than his previous time on major league teams had given them any right to expect but now they must be scratching their heads.

Brent Headrick pitched sensationally in 3 appearances in April. In 3 appearances in May. he was simply awful. His ERA for May was 9.00 and his WHIP 1.00. He finished out three games that the Yankees were losing anyway. If I was him I’d be booking tickets to go back to Scranton.

The good news is that Devin Williams seems to be settling more into his role. It does seem rather odd though that it is being suggested he might unseat Weaver from a closer role that Williams seemed to have gifted him. Williams pitched in 12 games, taking 2 wins and a save with a May ERA of 4.22, but surely Weaver should retain the closer role.

Tyler Matzek did well during his short stints for the Yankees, but when one of those stints came to an end in the middle of the month, he was the one to elect for free agency. He had a mixed May with his WHIP of 2.31 (on the month) emphasising his weak spots. He has now gone to the St Louis Cardinals where he was assigned to Triple-A and since picked up an injury.

Carlos Carrasco having been used in April in a starter role but found himself in a reliever’s role on May 4th against Tampa Bay. Coming on in the 7th with the Yankees 5-2 behind, he simply crumbled. He did finish out the game, but only because the Yankees had largely given up by then. He pitched 3 innings, giving up 5 hits and 2 runs. He has been reassigned outright to Scranton (rather than choosing free agency), and when the Yankees have sought to fill a gap, they have not looked in the Venezuelan’s direction.

On the lighter side, when a batter has to take to the mound to close out a game it is usually taken by both sides as a not overly serious part of the game. This wasn’t quite the case when Pablo Reyes took to the mound in the May 31st game agains the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers roughed him up for 5 hits, 3 runs and this left him with a 27.00 ERA and a 5.00 WHIP. Ironically, Reyes has pitched in the majors before – with far less disastrous results – for both Boston and Milwaukee.