New York Yankees: Why Domingo German Should Fill In for Luis Severino
After the New York Yankees lost RHP Luis Severino to a rotator cuff injury last week, the team is left wondering who could replace the team’s ace.
After reading this great article which articulates how much spring camp stats matters, there is some evidence to believe that New York Yankees RHP Domingo German might be the perfect replacement for Luis Severino as he nurses his injury.
His swing strike rate, which is co-related to K rate, was 9th-best in the league last season. What’s more, his changeup and curveball each generated a 20.08% and 18.71% whiff rate, too.
However, German was not able to put it together after his MLB debut. His fly ball rate was so high (40.4%), that he has became the victim of the long ball. An issue that has plagued him for his career.
In fact, He was homered against 15 times in 85.2 innings last season.
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The fact that he is homer-prone really prevents him from being a valuable starter. However, it is too early to give up on him. After spring camp started, he threw 4.2 innings with 7 strikeouts and no walks.
As mentioned above, Spring Training is too short to generate meaningful predictions. Nevertheless, as the Economist article stated, it is encouraging that he keeps his high strikeout rate and low walk rate.
After Severino injured his rotator cuff, there is one spot available on the New York Yankees roster now. It appears that German and Jonathan Loaisiga are competing for the spot.
Currently, Loaisiga has not figured out his walk rate issue. In fact, he has walked 4 batters in 7 innings in Spring camp so far. Since his walk rate and strikeout rate in spring camp are co-related to regular season stats, it looks more likely that German would take the last spot on the roster.
If Domingo German can somehow figure out his longball issue, he can be the 2nd or 3rd starter in the rotation. However, if he can’t, he will quickly disappear.
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Whether or not he can break out in 2019 should make Yankees fans excited for the upcoming season.