New York Yankees: Starting Pitching Report Card

The New York Yankees had a stellar first half of the season.  However, they currently find themselves 4.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East.  Is this deficit due to an underperforming starting rotation?  Let’s grade the first half performances of the starting pitchers to find out.

On July 19, 2017, the Yankees were also 4.5 games back in the division with a 51-45 record.  This season, they boast a 62-33 record on July 19th.  The Yankees were only 6 games over .500 at this point last year, so being 29 games over .500 to this point in 2018 is quite the accomplishment.

In 2017, all of the Yankees starting pitchers combined to finish the season with a 62-47 record.  They also held a 3.98 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP.  This group of starting pitchers finished 9th in wins, 5th in ERA, and 4th in WHIP.

Conversely, the 2018 starting pitchers have combined for a 40-20 with a 4.00 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP so far this season.  This group of starting pitchers are 4th in wins, 14th in ERA, and 8th in WHIP.

Even though the 2018 Yankees are off to a much better start than the 2017 Yankees, it is not easy to compare the two teams.  The 2017 Yankees were supposed to be a rebuilding team, but they ended up performing far above preseason expectations.

This led to the team buying at the trade deadline last year.  They even went all the way to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.  In the offseason, they added the 2017 NL MVP, Giancarlo Stanton.

As the 2018 season came with high expectations, let’s see how the Yankees starting pitchers have performed thus far this season:

Luis Severino: A+

Luis Severino has been more than the Yankees could have asked for this season.  After settling into the “ace” role in 2017, he is off to a 14-2 record with a 2.31 ERA through 20 starts.  More importantly, the Yankees have won 18 of those 20 starts.

The Yankees “ace” has pitched into the 7th inning 9 times this season.  His best start of the season came on the road against the Houston Astros on May 2nd.  In that game, he pitched 9 innings allowing 0 runs while striking out 7 hitters.  He also only allowed 5 hits and 1 walk.  The Yankees are also 2-1 against the Red Sox when Severino is the starting pitcher.

Through 128.1 innings pitched, Severino has 144 strikeouts.  Ron Guidry holds the Yankees franchise record for strikeouts in a single season with 248 in 1978.  As Severino will most likely make an additional 12 starts this season, he does have a chance to break that record.

In order to break the record, Severino would need to average 8.8 strikeouts per game.  He currently averages 7.2 strikeouts per game, so his strikeouts would have to increase.  As Severino does have 6 starts with 9 strikeouts or more, it will be interesting to see if he can break Louisiana Lightning’s long-standing strikeout record.

Severino is obviously a very important piece of the puzzle to a deep run in October.  This season, he holds a 2.73 FIP on the season with a 1.005 WHIP.  He is 1st in the MLB in wins, 9th in WHIP, 10th in strikeouts, and 5th in FIP.

As Severino is one of the best starters in all of the MLB, he deserves an “A+” rating.

C.C. Sabathia: B+

C.C. Sabathia has provided stability to a rotation that has its question marks.  He is 6-4 on the season with a 3.51 ERA through 18 starts.  His record an ERA are probably just what the Yankees were looking for when the re-signed the veteran in the offseason.

The Yankees are 24-7 this season following a loss this season.  Sabathia has pitched in 9 of those 31 games.  In Sabathia’s 9 games, the Yankees are 6-3.  His ability to help the Yankees avoid long losing streaks is one of his best qualities as a starter.

As much as Sabathia has meant to the Yankees, he has had a few rough starts this season.  The rough patches mostly come when he faces opponents too many times in one game.

On May 23rd against the Texas Rangers, the Yankees gave Sabathia a 4-0 lead.  Even though he gave up 5 runs in the bottom of the 4th to give up the lead, the Yankees rallied back to score 6 runs in the top of the 5th.  He proceeded to give up 2 more runs and was unable to complete 5 innings.  The Yankees went on to lose the game 10-12.

Despite the 4 games in which CC did not complete at least 5 innings pitched, he has been a solid part of the Yankees rotation.  He has 7 quality starts on the season and has pitched into the 7th inning 4 times at age 37.

Therefore, a “B+” rating seems appropriate for the soon to be 38-year-old southpaw.

Sonny Gray: D-

The Yankees traded three highly thought of prospects (Dustin Fowler, Jorge Mateo, and James Kaprielian) to acquire Sonny Gray from the Oakland Athletics at last year’s trade deadline.  Although he pitched to a modest 3.72 ERA with a 1.255 WHIP in 11 starts last season, he has not pitched well this season.

Through 18 starts in 2018, he is 6-7 with a 5.46 ERA, a 4.34 FIP, and a 1.511 WHIP.  It appeared he was turning things around in the month of June with a 4.64 ERA and a 1.212 WHIP, but he has gone right back to his season averages through two starts in July.

The two July starts sum up Gray’s up and down season as he was bad in one start, but good in the other.

Against the Toronto Blue Jays on July 6th, he only last 2.0 innings after he allowed 6 hits, 2 walks, and 5 earned runs.  He rebounded against the Baltimore Orioles on July 11th.  He pitched 6.0 innings, allowing only 3 hits and 1 walk.  He had 8 strikeouts and 0 earned runs.  Unsurprisingly, the Yankees were 1-1 as a team in those two games.

Even though Aaron Boone was against a personal catcher for Gray, he has primarily pitched to Austin Romine.  In the 16 games pitched to Romine, he hold a 4.70 ERA.  In the two games pitched to Gary Sanchez, he holds a 15.63 ERA.  Maybe his most recent start in Baltimore with a streamlined repertoire will carry over to his performances in the second half.

Gray does not deserve an “F” rating as he does have 7 quality starts on the season.  However, if he wants to be on the Yankees playoff roster, he needs to improve – quickly.

Domingo German: C-

Domingo German is in his rookie campaign for the Yankees as a starting pitcher.  He made 7 MLB appearances in 2017, but those appearances were all out of the bullpen.  German has appeared in 18 games in 2018, pitching to a 5.49 ERA, a 4.42 FIP, and a 1.297 WHIP.

This season, German has 12 starts in those 18 appearances.  As a starter, he is 2-4 with a 5.97 ERA and a 1.279 WHIP in 63.1 innings pitched. As a reliever, he is 0-1 with a 3.52 ERA and a 1.370 WHIP in 15.1 innings pitched.  His strikeout to walk ratio as a starter is 3.17 compared to his 2.71 SO/W ratio as a reliever.

He has 5 quality starts, but his best start came at home against the Seattle Mariners.  German pitched 7.0 innings while only allowing 2 hits and 0 walks.  He allowed 1 earned run and had 9 strikeouts.

Although he has had some great starts, he has also had some bad ones.  He has allowed 6 earned runs in 4 starts and the Yankees only have a 1-3 record in those games.

German struggles mightily in the first two innings of his starts.  He holds a 7.50 ERA in 1st innings, a 6.92 ERA in 2nd innings, and a 2.77 ERA in 3rd innings.

As he’s a rookie, up and down performances are to be expected.  Therefore, a “C-” rating is fair for German.

Jordan Montgomery: INC

Jordan Montgomery had a great rookie campaign in 2017, and he was off to a nice start in 2018.  Through 6 starts, he was 2-0 with a 3.62 ERA.

Although his FIP was 4.20 and his WHIP was 1.354 through those starts, the numbers mainly stem from a rough start against the Orioles on April 8th.  In that game, he allowed 10 hits, 2 walks, and 4 runs in 4.1 innings pitched.  He allowed 15 hits, 10 walks, and 7 runs total in his other 5 starts.

Unfortunately for Montgomery, he had to leave a start after he only pitched 1 inning in Houston on May 1st.  He ended up undergoing Tommy John surgery and will miss the remainder of this season.  Montgomery’s 6 starts are too small of a sample size to assign a rating.

Jonathan Loaisiga and Luis Cessa: INC

Similar to Montgomery, these two starters do not have enough appearances to assign a rating.  The two right-handed pitchers have combined for 6 starts in 2018.

Prior to his MLB debut, Jonathan Loaisiga had never pitched above the AA level.  After skipping AAA, he went 2-0 in his 4 MLB starts while filling in for Masahiro Tanaka‘s injury.  In those starts, he compiled a 3.00 ERA, a 2.87 FIP, and a 1.278 WHIP.

Luis Cessa has been back-and-forth on the shuttle from AAA to the MLB between 2016 and 2018.  Although he has appeared in 6 games for the Yankees, he has only made 2 starts.  In those starts, he has a 1-1 record.  He has compiled 9.0 innings pitched as a starter while allowing 8 hits, 5 walks, and 3 runs.

Yankees Team Starting Pitching: C+

Although the Yankees are looked at as a team with a poor starting rotation due to frequent trade rumors involving starting pitching, the starters as a whole have not been terrible.

As mentioned in the first slide, the Yankees starters currently combine for a 40-20 record, which is good for 4th in the MLB.  The Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros, and Boston Red Sox are the only starting staffs with more wins.

Their 1.23 WHIP places them 8th in the MLB and their 512 strikeouts place them 9th.  They rank 10th in walks allowed, 11th in earned runs allowed, and 15th in home runs allowed.

More from Call to the Pen

• Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
• Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
• Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
• Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
• 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals

The problem with the starting staff is their inability to go deep in games.  Part of this has to do with their amazing bullpen, but the starters generally have high pitch counts in the 5th or 6th inning.

The Yankees are 17th in the MLB with 520.0 innings from their starters.  Even though they are 11th in earned runs, they are 14th in ERA at 4.00 due to their ranking in innings pitched.

Random useless stat: the Astros and the Yankees are the only 2 teams in the MLB that have not had a starting pitcher intentionally walk a batter.

Overall, the Yankees have a capable pitching staff.  In order to surpass the Red Sox in the standings, the Yankees will need consistency from Gray and Tanaka.  They will also most likely need to find a veteran starter to fill in for the up-and-down Domingo German the rest of the way.

Next: CTTP's midseason top 150 prospects

The Questions: ?

Will Severino continue his Cy Young worthy performances? Is C.C. going to continue his solid season at age 37?  Are Gray and Tanaka going to be able to find consistency?  Will the Yankees make a splash at the deadline to acquire an impact starter?  If not, will German improve?

Time will tell.