CC Sabathia
It seems that New York is always willing to give Sabathia one more year until the veteran decides to hang up his cleats – after this season. And the southpaw will likely occupy his back-end spot in the rotation this season once he returns from injury.
Fans may remember Sabathia in his prime, watching his slider break from one edge of the plate to the other, perplexing hitters frequently. Now, the 38-year-old no longer has a strong fastball, and his slider and cutter are sometimes indistinguishable now.
Still, the side-winding breaking ball has been more effective than any other pitch in his repertoire.
Sabathia’s slider was his go-to pitch during the first few seasons in his career. He racked up more than 130 strikeouts with it in 2008, 2011 and 2012. More recently, it’s been effective, but it hasn’t produced nearly as many whiffs.
Still hitters hit a medial .180 against it in 2017. They fared much better against it in 2018, boasting an OPS close to .760.
Nevertheless, Sabathia might rely on what made his career such a success in his final MLB season. It wouldn’t be surprising, given that opponents owned a combined .175/.210/.264 slash line against the slider thus far into his career.
The five-time All-Star now utilizes his cutter more than ever, throwing it more than any other pitch in each of the past three seasons. And it was his best pitch last year, leading to 60 of Sabathia’s 150 strikeouts.
Yet the cutter is typically used as his fastball, setting up hitters before he tosses his payoff pitch. At his career comes to a conclusion, Sabathia has a few more opportunities to showcase what made his career so successful – his slider.
J.A. Happ
The Yankees have seen a lot of Happ throughout the past few seasons – just not in pinstripes. But he performed well enough during his brief stint in the Bronx in 2018 to warrant a new contract.
Happ utilized different pitches to obtain success across the previous few seasons as well. But his confidence in his fastball surpasses his trust in throwing any other pitch.
And the results are noteworthy, as he threw more heaters in 2018 than any year since 2010. That also complemented the trend of relying less on his curveball, which used to be a go-to payoff pitch.
Unlike most pitchers whose velocity dwindles as they get older, Happ’s speed has remained relatively consistent. Between 2013 and 2018, his fastball sat between 92 and 93.5 on average each year.
Hitters haven’t been able to adjust considerably to it either, as they hit .200 and .203 against it in two of the last three seasons.
(Happ’s fastballs thrown/all pitches thrown)
2014: 1,430/2,707 (51.8 percent)
2015: 1,548/2,821 (54.8 percent)
2016: 1,379/3,032 (45.5 percent)
2017: 1,050/2,484 (42.2 percent)
2018: 1,804/3,049 (59.1 percent)
While Happ seemed to lose his confidence in his heater, he regained it last year, as seen by his splits. He seems poised to use it often once again during this season, though it’s unknown whether hitters will fare better against it.
The left-hander has made it this far in his career with the weapons he has. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him continue his consistency in 2019 while still relying on his fastball.