13-14? 13-14 on the month of June? How did the New York Yankees suddenly collapse to a point where they are winning less than half the games in the month?

Well, as we have seen in my first article. most of the batters (with the exception of Jazz Chisholm and Cody bellinger) are no longer hitting. And whilst the starting rotation (injuries aside) is holding up, the bullpen is falling apart…

Let’s survey the statistics that show what the pitchers are producing and add a few well-observed comments:

Name/Pos	W	L	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	WHIP
Yerry De Los Santos rp	0	0	0.00	4	0	1	0	0	8.0	5	0	0	6	4	1.38
Scott Effross rp	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	0	0	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	1.00
Tim Hill rp	0	1	0.71	14	0	6	0	0	12.2	10	2	1	4	6	1.11
Devin Williams rp	0	0	0.93	10	0	7	0	6	9.2	5	1	1	0	12	0.52
Marcus Stroman sp	1	0	1.80	1	1	0	0	0	5.0	3	1	1	2	1	1.00
Ian Hamilton rp	0	0	1.86	8	0	3	0	0	9.2	8	3	2	6	7	1.45
Max Fried sp	3	1	1.91	5	5	0	0	0	33.0	24	8	7	5	34	0.88
Clarke Schmidt sp	2	2	1.95	5	5	0	0	0	32.1	17	7	7	8	30	0.77
Will Warren sp	2	1	2.86	5	5	0	0	0	28.1	21	9	9	11	34	1.13
Carlos Rodon sp	2	2	3.71	6	6	0	0	0	34.0	28	15	14	11	33	1.15
Fernando Cruz rp	1	1	3.86	11	0	0	0	0	9.1	4	4	4	6	19	1.07
Jonathan Loaisiga rp	0	1	4.73	12	0	2	0	0	13.1	12	8	7	3	13	1.13
Luke Weaver rp	0	1	4.91	4	0	1	0	0	3.2	3	2	2	1	5	1.09
Ryan Yarbrough sp	1	1	5.40	4	4	0	0	0	20.0	22	12	12	6	14	1.40
Mark Leiter Jr rp	1	2	5.63	11	0	3	0	0	8.0	17	9	5	3	10	2.50
Brent Headrick rp	0	0	7.20	4	0	0	0	0	5.0	9	4	4	0	4	1.80
Allan Winans sp/rp	0	1	8.53	2	1	1	0	0	6.1	8	7	6	2	3	1.58
JT Brubaker rp	0	0	10.80	3	0	2	0	0	3.1	3	4	4	4	1	2.10
Name/Pos	W	L	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	WHIP

Starters

The Yankees used 8 starters in June – an unusually high number which was caused by (at least in part) a combination of injuries and returns from injury.

The main injury was to Ryan Yarbrough who had been having a mixed month, with 4 starts before the 22nd of June when he went on the injured list (retroactive to the 20th) with a right oblique strain. Up to that point he had taken 1 win, 1 loss and 2 no-decisions. He had allowed 28 men to get on base (22 hits, 6 walks) in 20 innings. The jury is still out on his long term future.

Returning on the 29th of June was Marcus Stroman. who went straight back into the starting rotation – a situation I would have bet against not too long ago. However, there were two factors that led in this direction. First was the injury to Yarbrough. Second was the disaster that developed when the Yankees called up Allan Winans to cover for Yarbrough’s injury. First of all, Winans was used as a starter in the game in Cincinnati on the 23rd. He lasted only 4.1 innings. He left the game having given up 5 hits, and 4 earned runs. The Yankees then decided to try him in long relief on the 28th at the Stadium when the Yankees were playing the Athletics. Things were no better with Winans giving up 3 runs and 3 hits in 2 innings which meant he was making the lonely journey back to Scranton (Triple-A).

This meant that while Winans was travelling back to Scranton, Stroman was making the reverse journey. And even more surprisingly he did well. He pitched 5 innings, giving up 3 hits and 2 walks. He also took the win and produced a 1.80 WHIP. Now, the future is back in Stroman’s own hands.

The four top starters in the Yankees’ rotation also produced good months or better.

First there was Max Fried, who in 5 starts produced 3 wins, 1 loss and 1 no-decision. His ERA, for June, was less than 2 and his WHIP less than 1. His 34 strikeouts tied Will Warren for the lead on the month in that category, and he gave up only 5 walks through the whole month.

Next, we consider Clarke Schmidt. He took 2 wins, 2 losses and 1 no-decision, but I think he was unfortunate to take that second loss. His ERA of 1.95 and WHIP of 0.77 showed that this was as good a month as he has ever had in the majors.

We have already mentioned Will Warren and his high strikeout rate particularly over May and June. His ERA and WHIP were good if not quiet comparable with Fried and Schmidt.

Finally, we come to Carlos Rodon who continues to be consistent. In June, he took two wins, two losses and two no-decisions. He struck out 33 in 34 innings and achieved a 1.15 WHIP on the month. That will do nicely, sir!

Relievers

Meanwhile, as the rotation was doing well and surviving despite injuries, several of the major bullpen components were falling apart.

Luke Weaver, as we warned might happen, had headed tto the injured list with a left hamstring strain in the early part of the month. When he was able to be restored on the 20th of the month, he was giving up way too many home runs. Consequently, although his WHIP was kept down to 1.09, his ERA shot through the roof, hitting 4.91 on the month. Also, he once again had to adjust to being the setup man whilst the Yankees handed the closer role to Devin Williams during his absence – we have to admit that Williams had done well whilst Weaver was unavailable.

Other reguars who the Yankees needed to step up and be counted were Mark Leiter Jr and Jonathan Loaisiga. In 11 appearances (including 1 win, 2 losses), Leiter ran to a 5.63 ERA and a 2.50 WHIP. Another case of overuse meaning that a situation was heading towards burnout. Loaisiga had started reasonably well when he came back from his injuries, but June saw him throw to a 4.73 ERA. He appeared in 12 games.

The one regular who showed great adaptability and strength was Tim Hill who pitched in 14 games for a total of 12.2 innings on the month. His June ERA was an excellent (bullpen-regulars-leading) 0.71 and his WHIP was 1.11 on the month.

Fernando Cruz, who the Yankees would like to depend on, heading off for a second stint on the injured list. Whilst Yarbrough, who we mentioned earlier, had a right oblique strain, Cruz had the same problem but on the left-side. Up until that point, he had been pitching to a pretty good 3.86 ERA since his last spot of unavailability due to injury. His WHIP, since returning the first time, was an excellent 1.07.

As we have mentioned. Devin Williams was now reinstalled as the closer initially, first because of Weaver’s injury and then because of merit. He had a great June with an ERA of 0.93 in 10 games and an even more sound WHIP of 0.52 in the month.

Then there were the bit players.

Yerry De Los Santos appeared in 4 games, pitched 8 innings and didn’t give up any runs before the 19th of the month when he headed to the injured list with right elbow discomfort.

In the middle of the month, Scott Effross bounced back and forth between the Bronx and Scranton, appearing in only one game. He gave up one hit in his one inning before returning to the Railriders.

Those were the positive stories. Then, there were the disasters.

Debutant, JT Brubaker appeared in just three games as a kind of mop-up man. He ran up an ERA of 10.80 and a WHIP of 2.10. He was just returning from the 60 day injured list and perhaps he needs time to work into his groove.

Then, there was Brent Headrick. He appeared in 4 games, pitched 5 innings and gave up 9 hits. It was pretty ugly. His ERA for June was 7.20.