Quick Yankee Notes

New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Guardians: Series Preview
The Yankees head back out on the road to take on a Cleveland team that is also off to a good start.
While they may have dropped the series finale on Wednesday, the Yankees continued their winning start to the season with another series victory over the Marlins earlier this week. After getting a day off yesterday, they hit the road and they’re now set to try and continue that run starting tonight against the Guardians.

Cleveland has also made a nice start to the year, as they sit atop the AL Central at 9-3 under new manager Stephen Vogt. At +35, their run differential is the best in baseball to this point. Their offense has been especially impressive, with four of their lineup regulars posting a OPS+ of over 150. Their pitching recently took a hit with the news that former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber will need Tommy John surgery, but either way, this will be a tough test against a team that’s played well so far.

Before the series gets going tonight, let’s take a look at the expected pitching matchup for this weekend.

Friday: Clarke Schmidt vs. Carlos Carrasco (7:10 pm ET)

Schmidt’s main issue so far this season has, once again, been the multiple times through the order penalty. In his two starts so far, he’s allowed a .667 OPS the first time through the order and a 1.405 one in the third time. Those are obviously still a very small sample size, but it is worth noting considering his past struggles with that and how the Yankees could really use him improving that aspect of his game.

After an ill-fated stint with the Mets, Carrasco returned to Cleveland on a minor league deal this offseason and then pitched his way onto their MLB roster to start the season, putting up a 2.57 ERA in 14 spring training innings. His regular season starts have been so-so thus far, as he only lasted three innings against the Twins last time out, albeit while only allowing one run on one hit.

Saturday: Luis Gil vs. Triston McKenzie (6:10 pm ET)

Following his remarkable spring training to nab the fifth starter spot, Gil has gotten off to a pretty decent start to the regular season. His main issue so far has been length, as he hasn’t gotten out of the fifth in either of his starts. In the last one against the Blue Jays, he battled though some issues with walks and his obvious frustration with home plate umpire Ángel Hernández to still put in a respectable outing.

After a breakout 2022, McKenzie missed most of 2023 due to injury issues. He’s returned this year and has been up and down so far. His most recent start was “up” portion of that, as he shutout the White Sox over 5.2 innings despite issuing four walks.

Sunday: Nestor Cortes vs. Logan Allen (1:40 pm ET)

Cortes’ first two starts of the season were semi-worrying, but earlier this week he bounced back with arguably the best performance from a Yankee starter so far. He threw eight scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and no walks, while striking out six. The Marlins aren’t exactly the stiffest competition but it was a fairly dominant outing when he really needed one.

Allen has gone down as the winning pitcher in two of his three starts so far, but his 4.60 ERA is worse than league average. That being said, this will be the second-year pitcher’s first ever matchup against the Yankees, and we know the supposed lore about when the Yankees face a pitcher for the first time.
www.pinstripealley.com/2024/4/12/24127408/new-york-yankees-cleveland-guardians-series-preview-probable-pitchers-schmidt-gil-cortes

FanGraphs | Eric Longenhagen: FanGraphs’ prospect specialist Eric Longenhagen discussed a few minor leaguers of note around the game, including Jackson Merrill, Spencer Arrighetti, and Yankees’ starter Luis Gil. Regarding the Yankees starter, Longenhagen noted that while his mechanics and release point look about the same as they did in 2022, “he’s reshaped his physique and has begun to emphasize a changeup that he was barely throwing prior to the surgery.”

Indeed, Gil used his cambio just six percent of the time in 2022. Now, it’s up to 23.5 percent. However, Longengahen doesn’t see it as a game-changer, or at least not yet:

“Is it a separator for his profile? Not at this stage. It isn’t as if Gil has found a nasty and consistently finishing changeup immediately. His slider is still better looking to the eye and has special velocity.”

He does say that the Yankees and Gil appear eager to throw it more often in order to develop its feel, movement, and command. Only time will tell if it becomes more of a weapon.

MLB.com | Mike Lupica: David Cone offered his thoughts on the Yankees starting rotation and made comparisons to the 1998 starting staff. Cone reflected that any of the five in the ‘98 rotation — himself, Andy Pettitte, David Wells, Orlando Hernandez, and Hideki Irabu — could perform like a No. 1 on any given night though stressed how important it was that none of them landed on the IL. He also sees similarities in how the offenses from both years’ teams could pick up pitchers who fell behind early, the team never feeling out of a contest. He finished with praise for Carlos Rodón’s encouraging start to the season.
www.mlb.com/news/david-cone-discusses-yankees-starting-rotation

Looks like we could see Burdi and Gonzalez today coming out of the pen.

NJ.com | Max Goodman: Yankees spot starter Cody Poteet shocked the baseball world with his six innings of one-run ball against the Cleveland Guardians during the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader. The New York coaching staff, however, were not surprised after watching him perform in spring training. Even so, considering he was on an 80-pitch limit, the fact that he provided length to a bullpen that was in desperate need of rest was a major win for the Yankees. Although he reverted back to Triple-A Scranton after the outing, the Yankees are confident that, when called upon again, he’ll be more than ready to answer.

New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays: Series preview
The Yankees head to Toronto in their second series against the Blue Jays in less than two weeks.
www.pinstripealley.com/2024/4/15/24130521/yankees-mlb-series-preview-blue-jays-probable-starters-gil-rodon-storman-gausman-bassitt-kikuchi

The Yankees will try to keep the good times rolling north of the border with their second series against the Toronto Blue Jays in less than a two-week span. Despite falling short in a tough back-and-forth extra-innings loss on Sunday, leaving Cleveland without a sweep, the Yankees are aiming to win their sixth consecutive series to start the year. They currently hold MLB’s best record in the very early goings at 12-4.

Since the Yankees last faced the Blue Jays, Toronto has gone 4-2 during their opening homestand against the Mariners and Rockies, winning both series and improving their record to 8-8. Entering play on Sunday, the team had a league-average 99 OPS+ for the year. However, the top three hitters in the batting order George Springer (91 OPS+), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (102 OPS+), and Bo Bichette (95 OPS+), have had underwhelming starts at the plate. Offseason free-agent acquisitions Isiah Kiner-Falefa (139 OPS+) and Justin Turner (204 OPS+), as well as Cavan Biggio (144 OPS+), have stepped up to balance out the production of their all-star caliber hitters.

Monday: Luis Gil vs. Chris Bassitt (7:07 pm ET)

Before Friday’s postponed game, Gil was scheduled to pitch on Saturday. However, the change in schedule altered their plans. Aaron Boone mentioned that Gil was available out of the bullpen against Cleveland but was ultimately not used. So since he wasn’t used, he’ll start against the Blue Jays for the second time in a row.

In the rookie’s last outing, Gil battled through an erratic third inning where he loaded the bases, giving up two earned runs in 4.1 innings in the Yankees’ 8-3 win. Being more efficient will be crucial for Gil in this start, especially with the bullpen stretched thin after playing three games in two days. He has yet to pitch past the fifth inning in either of his two starts. Despite this, the righty has showcased dominant stuff this season, striking out 36.8 percent of hitters. Gil’s combination of a 96-mph fastball and effective secondary slider and changeup has kept hitters off-balance, resulting in an expected batting average of .081. It will be interesting to see if the Blue Jays lineup, having faced him eight days ago, can make adjustments to the inexperienced major-league starter.

The right-handed Bassitt will start for the Blue Jays. The veteran has struggled early, sporting a 5.06 ERA and 1.81 WHIP. His best start was his last one against the Mariners, where he pitched 6.2 innings, allowing one run off a homer and striking out eight. Statcast labels eight pitch types in his arsenal, but his primary pitch is a sinkerballer, which hitters have found more success against this season with a .321 average.

Tuesday: Carlos vs. Yusei Kikuchi (7:07 pm ET)

With a 1.72 ERA and the Yankees winning all three games he has started, Rodón has great results, especially considering the pressure he faced coming in. However, he carries a high 1.47 WHIP, and his strikeout rate is relatively low at 18.8 percent compared to the 33.4-percent whiff rate he had in his dominant 2022 season with the Giants. Despite his strong overall results, his expected Statcast statistics show an expected earned-run average of 4.45 in his first three outings. So even with the strong ERA, we have yet to get the dominant pitcher they signed.

Kikuchi helped spoil the Yankees’ home opener by pitching 5.1 scoreless innings. Since then, he has had another strong outing against Seattle, throwing six innings, giving up one run while striking out nine in the Blue Jays’ win. He has found success so far in forcing groundballs at a rate of 57.8 percent, which ranks in the 88th percentile.

Wednesday: Marcus Stroman vs. Kevin Gausman (3:07 ET)

After two shutout performances to start his Yankees career, Stroman had a shaky start dealing with some tough luck with balls in play, albeit also with a Jake Burger bomb. He gave up four runs, all in the third inning, and the Marlins handed him his first loss to his record in pinstripes. As a pitcher who induces soft contact, outings like the one against the Marlins are to be expected, but he has started the season strong with his ability to induce said soft contact, with both his groundball and hard-hit rates ranking in the 88th percentile.

Gausman is still looking to get back into his form. After imploding against the Yankees, lasting just 1.1 innings and surrendering six runs (one unearned), he had another poor outing against the Rockies. In his last start, he allowed six runs on 10 hits over 3.2 innings. The Toronto ace missed time in spring training with right shoulder fatigue, so his disrupted ramping up schedule could help explain his rocky start to the season.

Yankeesource: Anthony Volpe (66 PA)

.382/.477/.564
21 for 55
4 2B
2 HR
8 RBI
14 R
10 BB
9 K
5 SB
1 CS
199 OPS+
207 wRC+
1.6 WAR (tied with Witt for #1 in AL)