Pitching Helps New York Yankees Complete One-Third Of Season In Good Shape

Record-wise the New York Yankees were statistically better through 54 games in 2024 and through the one-third mark of the schedule in 2022.

Last season with Juan Soto hitting over .300 in what became his only season with the Yankees, they were 37-17. Two years earlier as Judge eventually hit an AL-record 62 homers, the Yankees were 39-15.

Even with those lofty records one third of the way through a 94-win season in 2024 and a 99-win campaign in 2022, there was a perception the Yankees might not have been well-rounded.

While these Yankees are not perfect because no team is, their 34-20 mark through the first unofficial milepost of the six-month marathon is something you would have a difficult time finding anyone to be displeased with.

Sure there are occasional bad losses like a late-inning collapse in the rain on May 5 against the San Diego Padres or last Friday’s 3-2 loss to the woeful Colorado Rockies, but for the most part the good outweighs the bad.

The obvious cause of the Yankees holding the biggest divisional lead in baseball and the biggest in May since 1998 is the offense and how newcomers Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger are performing. Goldschmidt has been the Yankees’ second-best hitter average-wise beyond Judge while Bellinger has heated up recently, highlighted by a recent 15-game hitting streak.

Perhaps an underrated aspect of the strong start is the pitching, which appeared to be a big question in the final two-plus weeks of spring training after Gerrit Cole was lost for the season due to the dreaded Tommy John surgery on his elbow.

At one point, the Yankees boasted the worst ERA from their starting pitchers but had enough offense to mask the wart. Now the starting pitching boasts the third-best ERA of 3.32, trailing only fellow division leaders the Philadelphia Phillies and Detroit Tigers.

And in winning their past two division titles, the Yankees boasted starting pitching ERAs of 3.85 in 2024 and 3.51 in 2022 when they had Cole for a full season.

The starting pitching is not just top heavy with an ace doing the heavy lifting. Max Fried has been as advertised, holding hitters to a .158 average on his four-seam fastball — down from .263 last season – and getting ground balls at about a 53 percent clip.

Beyond Fried is Carlos Rodon, who rebounded from an injury-plagued and ineffective 2023 to win 16 games last season. Rodon’s performance proved he could pitch well in New York but also entered this year with everyone wanting to see a strong follow up.

Rodon is delivering a strong follow up as evidenced by his six straight wins and continued with 10 strikeouts in seven innings. He also is continuing his evolution from primarily a fastball and slider pitcher in 2023 to a diverse pitch mix.

The four-seamer and slider remain his primary pitches and Rodon is holding hitters averages of .218 and .102 respectively. He also is mixing in a changeup and is on pace to exceed the amount of times he threw it last season and then there is the sinker which he threw once last season and is gradually increasing his usage along with an evolving curveball.

Rodon seemingly figured out how to be more than a two-pitch pitcher and the ugly extremes are limited in the third year of his six-year, $161 million deal.

And beyond Rodon are Clarke Schmidt, who is showing progress almost every time out along with Will Warren. Both are players any team strives for with in homegrown pitching out of the draft and the righties are starting to become more consistent with their stuff of late.

The fifth spot is often a rotating door or a spot filled by a veteran who has bounced around and this year Ryan Yarbrough is meeting the challenge exceedingly well in four starts, highlighted by 15 strikeouts in 11 innings over his past two starts.

The Yankees reached the one-third point without an inning from Cole, Luis Gil, a change in closer from Devin Williams to Luke Weaver. They are supplementing Judge with Goldschmidt, Bellinger along with a young core they hope keeps improving.

They are not perfect but winning 34 of 54 games is hardly an imperfect getaway towards some bigger goals like potentially winning a division, avoiding the wild-card round and getting homefield advantage through the postseason.