With Gerrit Cole out for the season and Luis Gil and Marcus Stroman also on the injured list, the Yankees’ rotation depth is not in a strong spot.
“It’s probably a little more limited than we’ve had in the past,” pitching coach Matt Blake told the Daily News over the weekend.
That may be an understatement, though it was hard to prepare for the avalanche of injuries that hit the Yankees’ rotation.
While Max Fried, fresh off a legitimate no-hit bid, has been “the total package” — those are Aaron Judge’s words — over his first five starts with the Yankees, he hasn’t had much help. Carlos Rodón has been inconsistent at best, while Carlos Carrasco has the third-worst Stuff+ of any pitcher who has logged at least 20 innings this season.
Will Warren, scheduled to start on Tuesday in Cleveland, is coming off a 1.2-inning performance and has been burned by walks, while Clarke Schmidt, who allowed five earned runs in Monday’s loss, is still building up after some nagging injuries put him behind in spring training.
Altogether, the Yankees’ rotation entered Tuesday’s game with a 4.74 ERA. That was the fourth-worst mark in baseball despite Fried having a 1.42 ERA.
As bad as the Yankees’ rotation has been overall, they don’t have many exciting alternatives should the group suffer another injury.
According to Blake, the next arms in line are Allan Winans and Brandon Leibrandt, though the latter just went on the injured list at Triple-A. Blake also mentioned Erick Leal, who is pitching in affiliated ball for the first time since 2019 this season.
Blake noted that Ryan Yarbrough, in the big league bullpen, is also stretched out to 60 pitches and has starting experience.
One reliever the Yankees likely won’t stretch out is Brent Headrick.
The lefty, who recorded a 0.00 ERA over four games before being optioned to Triple-A recently, picked up some minor league starting experience in the Twins organization. However, the Yankees like the way he’s settled into a relief role.
Blake feels Headrick’s stuff, particularly his fastball, plays better in short bursts. That was evident in spring training, as Headrick’s heater hit the upper 90s when he pitched in relief but sat in the lower 90s as he started to build up.
While Blake said the Yankees could always reconsider their plans for Headrick, the coach added, “It felt like once we got him settled back into a two-inning stint, he kept the velo there and really had a superpower with the fastball with the life it had. We didn’t want to take that away from him if we could avoid it.”
On Monday, Aaron Boone also reiterated that pitching prospect Clayton Beeter will only work out of the bullpen moving forward, per The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty. A starter throughout much of his minor league career, Beeter is on a rehab assignment following shoulder impingement syndrome.
One prospect who is in the rotation depth conversation is Cam Schlittler.
He’s “a little bit farther away,” Blake emphasized, as the Bombers’ 11th-best prospect hasn’t reached Triple-A yet. However, the right-handed Schlittler has a 1.80 ERA over his first 15 innings at Double-A this season, and he impressed the Yankees while facing lots of big league competition in spring training.
“Just a good demeanor,” Blake said when asked what stood out about Schlittler in camp. “Got after the zone. We pitched him in a lot of major league games as the starter, so he faced major league lineups. Thought he continued to evolve as the spring went on.”
With that in mind, Blake said he could see Schlittler helping out in “the second half, “potentially.”
