The Revitalization of J.A. Happ

By Lucas Bolduc

If you follow the Roll Call Podcast, you know I have been extremely critical of J.A. Happ. To start the season, Happ was horrible, pitching to an ERA in the high nine’s through two starts. It was looking all downhill for him, as several Yankees fans, including myself, were calling for Happ to be removed from the starting rotation. Watching Happ in those two starts, you could see he was struggling to find the strike zone, walking eight batters in seven innings of work. The extra baserunners led to his mistakes being doubled in severity, tacking on extra unnecessary runs and putting the Yanks in early holes. Thankfully since then, Happ has pitched better, and earned a spot in a Yankees deflated rotation. Let’s dive in.

Over Happ’s last 4 starts, he has pitched to a 4.85 ERA, which compared to his initial ERA, is phenomenal. He was one more bad start away from losing his job (in my opinion). In those 4 starts, he has struck out 22 batters, and only walked 5. Although Happ has been pitching his ass off, the Yanks offense hasn’t been of much help. Happ’s win-loss record stands at 1–2, although if he keeps pitching like he has been, and the Yankees bats finally start to catch fire, Happ should see his record rise in the win column. Happ’s biggest weakness was his walks, which obviously he has cut down significantly. For Happ, only walking 5 men over 24.1 innings of work is fantastic. If he continues this trend, Happ’s ugly habit of giving up homeruns won’t hurt the Yankees as much, because less runs will score with fewer opponents reaching base.

My faith in Happ is officially restored! If he can continue to pitch to that 4.85 ERA, I believe the offense will pick up their slack, and support Happ’s pitching style. Overall, Happ pitching well makes the Yankees a playoff favorite, with the pitching powerstars of Gerrit Cole, Masahiro Tanaka, and James Paxton holding down the rotation.

Lucas Bolduc is a co-host on The Roll Call Podcast. The podcast airs on Thursday’s at 3:30 , you can learn more about that here:

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