New York Yankees: Masahiro Tanaka’s early numbers signal a rebound
By Kyle Cardoza
Masahiro Tanaka was arguably the worst starting pitcher on the Yankees last year. But after two successful starts this season, he may be in the midst of a comeback campaign.
Masahiro Tanaka almost did it. The New York Yankees pitcher cruised through six innings, whiffing seven Orioles in the process Thursday.
After a more-than-respectable season debut against the Blue Jays, the Japanese starter might have convinced that he was back to his ace status. But then he became slightly unraveled in his final inning of work against Baltimore, yielding three runs.
New York lost the game, but Tanaka’s start was promising. Though his rough inning was the rotation’s first blemish this season, he’s had an encouraging start to the year.
Tanaka posted his worst numbers in 2017, primarily because of his issues with the long ball and his inability to miss bats. Moreover, he allowed a career-high 2.1 walks per nine innings too.
Thus far, the right-hander has temporarily solved those issues. He has yet to surrender a walk. Opposing hitters collected nine hits against him across the two starts. The issue is that five of those knocks were for extra bases.
That high percentage should diminish as the season moves forward, but it is still a noteworthy statistic. Tanaka had just one year in which he allowed more than one hit per inning pitched – last year of course.
Yet the amount of extra-base hits he yielded per season varies. However, the critical problem in 2017 is that nearly half of the extra-base hits he conceded were home runs.
Extra-base hits allowed (per FanGraphs)
- 2017: 178 1/3 innings pitched, 180 hits, 42.8 percent XBH
- 2016: 199 2/3 innings pitched, 179 hits, 32.4 percent XBH
- 2015: 154 innings pitched, 126 hits, 48.4 percent XBH
- 2014: 136 innings pitched, 123 hits, 34.1 percent XBH
Maybe the most important aspect of the Yankees pitcher this year is his decision to throw fewer fastballs. Hitters batted at least .291 each of the previous four seasons against Tanaka’s fastball.
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Meanwhile, the hurler’s splitter and slider are two of the most efficient pitches in baseball. Teams sport a career average of .186 against his splitter and .187 against the slider, per FanGraphs. His strikeout percentage for each pitch is 31.1 percent and 32.4 percent, respectively.
The New York pitcher may continue his solid start across his next two scheduled starts as well.
Tanaka faces the Red Sox in his upcoming start next week. He owns a 6-2 record against them since 2015, his most recent outing consisting of seven innings and just one run allowed.
The Yankees square off against the Marlins during his following start. Miami ranks in the bottom five in OPS and are 21st in the league in runs scored. Pitchers racked up 68 strikeouts against its lineup as of Friday. That presumes to be a favorable setting for Tanaka.
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Odds are that the Japanese starter finds his rhythm again throughout the course of the year. After four seasons in the MLB, last year was the outlier.
Tanaka can prove it was by maintaining his consistency and remaining one of the Yankees leaders in the rotation.