The Yankees Rotation is Better Than You Think
The New York Yankees are about to enter September and are tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in baseball at 88–47. The Yankees are 37–25 (.597) vs above .500 teams this season, the best record in Major League Baseball. The Bronx Bombers are 47–20 since June 15th, which is the best record in baseball. New York just ended August with it’s second 20-win season of 2019, at 20–8 in August with 2 games to go, while setting an MLB record with 70 Home Runs in a calendar month.
They’ve been able to do this despite the fact most people think the starting rotation is trash.
Obviously, that isn’t true, and since August 1st, it’s statistically not accurate either. This month, the Yankees starter’s ERAs look like this:
Masahiro Tanaka 3.31
James Paxton 3.57
Domingo German 3.86
Meanwhile, the guys everyone blasted the Yankees for not getting at the trade deadline have posted these ERAs.
Marcus Stroman 4.91
Trevor Bauer 7.62
Masahiro Tanaka is 3–1 with 3.31 ERA in August, Domingo German is 4–1 this month with a 3.86 ERA.
James Paxton has finally become the “ace” that the Yankees thought they were getting, going 6–0 with 39 K’s in 35.1 IP while posting a 3.57 ERA over 6 starts. Paxton has been throwing more curveballs, and it’s led to his huge turnaround.
“It’s something that slows guys down because my other two pitches are hard, the fastball and the cutter, so it gets them off-balance a little bit and it makes them slow their swing down and respect something on the outer half,’’ Paxton said. “The curveball plays really well off my high fastball. It gives them that little hesitancy.’’
With Luis Severino and Jordan Montgomery returning from the Injured List, the Yankees rotation is about to get a serious upgrade.
