3 Yankees with the most pressure to succeed
Adam Ottavino
When the New York Yankees signed Adam Ottavino last season, they assured the baseball world that they would feature the best bullpen in MLB. In many ways, they lived up to that promise… in spite of Otto’s performance.
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Even though he featured a 1.90 ERA in 73 appearances last season, Otto appeared shaky in many of his games. So much so that his 1.312 WHIP ranks as the 4th highest WHIP of his nine-year career. What’s more, he posted a career-high BB with 40 and was tied for 3rd in Blown Saves (7) in MLB.
Fortunately for Ottavino, many of his issues seem to have come from a lack of control, which could hopefully be corrected under the new team’s pitching coach Matt Blake.
Also, he is only under contract for the next two seasons, unlike Giancarlo Stanton who is under contract through the 2027 season. What’s more, since he is a reliever, Otto gets to hide in the bullpen for much of the game and will appear in just a fraction of the games a regular, like “G,” would.
So, while the pressure is there for Ottavino to perform next season, especially when Dellin Betances took his talents to Queens, it is not comparable to the 2017 NL MVP.