The New York Yankees’ performance in the season to the end of May is better than any of us had a right to expect.
Part of that is due to the batting performances of the likes of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, but that is not the whole picture. The pitching arms have been an essential part of the growth.
Continue readingThe New York Yankees had a sensational month in May. They went 21-7 and dominated the league and their division.
Aaron Judge, who had struggled in April, bounced back with strength. Juan Soto continued at the high level he set in April. Their starting pitchers exceeded expectations. The bullpen had as much depth as anticipated.
Continue readingAnd so we turn our attention to the Yankees pitchers. The starting rotation has had some necessary changes. The bullpen has changed beyond recognition.
Obviously, the major need is to cover for the absence because of injury of Gerrit Cole. He’ll be out until June.
Continue readingThe Yankees settled into their groove right from the beginning of the season this time out. By the end of March, they were 4-0 and in first place in the American League East.
By the end of April, they had slipped back to 2nd in the division, but only by one game behind the Baltimore Orioles.
Continue readingEach season, we award to players rankings according to outstanding performances during the season. Using this system, here’s how the Batters and Pitchers of the New York Yankees placed:
Continue readingSo, my month at the Stadium is over.
What can I tell you? It didn’t work out quite the way I had anticipated it when I accepted the commission at the beginning of the season.
Then the Yankees looked like one of the strongest, if not the strongest team in Major League Baseball. I would have ranked them alongside the Atlanta Braves as the strongest team in the majors
Continue readingAnd there was rain… New York rain.
Yesterday, there was no game. Today, a 51 minute delay, but there was a game.
For 3 hours and 2 minutes we sat out in the rain. Before the game, at least we were able to have friendly conversation with Ed Alstrom, the Yankees organist of the day. That chat and the free food in the Stadium suites was more enjoyable than sitting in the rain and watching this game.
Continue readingThe Yankees went into their last home series of 2023. In reality, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ record on the season isn’t that much stronger than the Yankees, but they are in a much weaker division – and, therefore, whilst the Yankees will finish fourth or fifth, Arizona will finish second or third.
Today, the Yankees sent Luke Weaver to the mound, who is trying to rebuild his career, whilst Brandon Pfaadt (pronounced “Fought”) is trying first time around to establish a Major League career.
Weaver started the season at Cincinnati, and then when the Reds released him, he was signed by Seattle. The Mariners placed him on waivers, and the Yankees claimed a couple of days later. His career might seem to be on the garbage heap, if he can’t turn things around soon. His first game for the Yankees came in Pittsburgh where he pitched four innings for 3 runs. Tonight, he had a second opportunity to turn it all around and rebuild his career.
Pfaardt went into this game with a 2-8 record on the season, His Earned Run Average stood at 5.86.
It was not hard to predict that the outcome of the game depended primarily on the two teams’ batting performance on the night.
Continue readingThe New York Yankees seemed to begin to turn a corner in July and their results improved – particularly in the second half of the month.
It is difficult to analyse exacly why but strangely the results started to improve when many of their first choice roster members became unavailable and were replaced partially by untried players and partially by journeymen, perhaps spotting one final opportunity to breakthrough.
Some of those regulars were unavailable because of conventional injuries. Others were forced into isolation by positive Covid tests which hit the roster in ever-increasing numbers.
On the face of it, having to subtract Aaron Judge from the selection of available outfielders and add in Greg Allen, who in four previous stints in the Major Leagues (with Cleveland and San Diego) had managed to hit around .230, was not a recipe designed for success – but somehow the energy and enthusiasm of the new faces seemed to work.
Let’s survey the statistics of the offensive players in the month of July…
The world of baseball pitching began to be shaken up in late-May and early-June as MLB announced that it would be checking the hats, gloves and belts of pitching staff during games.
Rumours had begun to spread about the use of a substance called Spider Tack which was allowing pitchers to get a better grip on the ball and consequently increases spin speeds. Players like Josh Donaldson of Minnesota became very vocal in their criticisms of pitchers including, for example, the New York Yankees’ Gerrit Cole.
Now, there have been allegations like that. There also been suggestions that spin speeds for certain pitchers have dropped since the announcement of the rule-enforcement may have caused some pitchers to relearn their craft but so far that’s all we know.
So as we examine these statistics for the month of May, let’s consider those pitchers whose performance seems to have varied most dramatically – but I’ll go no further – the jury is still out – and we may never really know.
Here’s the stats for the whole team and then we’ll begin with a closer analysis of the starting rotation:
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