The Yankees’ offense looks nearly slump-proof -- but the starting pitching needs to be better
HOUSTON -- You want the good news first, or the bad news?
Let’s get the bad out of the way. For the 2-0 Yankees to get where they so desperately want to go, they will need more from Carlos Rodon and Nestor Cortes than they received in those pitchers’ respective season debuts.
Rodon and Cortes are essential to the Yankees’ pennant hopes, and not just because of Gerrit Cole’s early-season absence. Even with Cole, the rotation has a high ceiling and low floor, and needs the aforementioned duo to find a level that resembles their past All-Star forms.
In two wins against the Astros, the relentless Yankee offense (and some weirdly sloppy play from the American League alphas) helped to whitewash so-so starts from both Cortes and Rodon.
Within that, though, is the good news.
The way the Yankees achieved that pair of comeback victories against their longtime daddies augured a far better offensive year than last. That’s because this team is defined by a quality that seldom slumps: Patient at-bats, and the ability to get on base.
“We've been trying to do that since spring training,” says on-base monster Juan Soto. “We focus on all that stuff. Taking good at-bats against everybody. Don’t give at-bats away.”
On Opening Day, the Yanks showed relentless patience against Houston starter Framber Valdez, crawling back from an early 4-0 hole to win 5-4. Perhaps most encouraging were Anthony Volpe’s three walks, which hinted at a calmer, more mature approach than he showed in posting a .283 on-base percentage in his rookie season.
On Friday, trailing 1-0 in the seventh inning, Volpe started a rally with yet another walk. Austin Wells -- a player who reminds folks inside the organization of a Gene Michael-style on-base machine from the ‘90s -- followed with a walk of his own.
Oswaldo Cabrera, who is filling in gloriously for the injured D.J. LeMahieu, drove in Volpe. Two batters later, Soto put his team ahead with a bases-loaded walk.
The Yankees finished 2023 with a collective .304 on-base percentage, good for 27th in Major League Baseball. To call this uncharacteristic would be a dramatic understatement.
It was shockingly counter to everything the Yankees have believed since Michael, in his various on-field and front office roles, instilled the importance of OBP more than four decades ago.
With Soto, Alex Verdugo, an improved Volpe and Wells in this year’s mix, the 2024 Yankees are highly unlikely to fall into a group malaise of quick, boring innings. They’ll run into great pitching and look flat from time to time, as any team does. But they have so many players who see so many pitches, making it hard to imagine all of them losing that skill at once.
Now back to the not-so-good.
After two wins against the dreaded Astros, it might seem like a nitpick to critique the starting pitchers. But that fact is, both ran up high pitch counts with a lack of fastball command, chasing them from their games earlier than hoped and leaving much room for improvement.
The always candid Rodon said as much after his outing, in which he allowed one run on five hits and three walks (four strikeouts) in 4.1 innings. He threw 87 pitches, 54 for strikes. While emphasizing that he was happy because his team won the game, Rodon acknowledged that his command has to improve.
“The stuff was good,” he said. “The command wasn’t great, and that’s something that we’ll get to this week.”
Both Cortes (four runs in five innings in the opener) and Rodon are hoping to rebound from a 2023 season spoiled by injuries and underperformance. Both reported to spring training healthy, fit, and throwing a fastball that was up a few ticks in velocity.
Scouts who saw Cortes in spring training thought he looked fine, if not overwhelmingly sharp. Rodon’s stuff was back, but his command wasn’t consistent.
“I saw Rodon twice,” one scout said. “Good once and bad once, but velocity up a tick and slider better than last year. He and [pitching coach Matt] Blake might want to work on some command because it’s not lights out.”
That essentially described Rodon on Friday night, too. It was far from disastrous; in fact, it was a game in which he could build, and from which he can derive a measure of confidence.
The Yankees need him to keep building back toward a good place. Eventually, a winning team needs length and command from its starters. Without Cole -- let alone Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery -- the importance of Rodon and Cortes can hardly be overstated.
