All things considered, the New York Yankees have started the 2022 season about as well as they could have hoped. They are 3-1-1 in their five series despite an offense that, prior to Sunday's blowout win (NYY 10, CLE 2), had not scored more than six runs in a game, or scored more than five runs without the benefit of the automatic runner in extra innings. It's been a grind offensively.
The pitching, on the other hand, has been magnificent. It's almost become cliche to say the Yankees have pitching issues -- there are very real injury concerns with some members of their staff, no doubt -- but they were second in the American League in park-adjusted ERA last season (15 percent better than average). They've been even better in the early going in 2022.
Here is the early season ERA leaderboard:
The Yankees have not had a starter allow more than three runs in a game yet this season, and their 44 runs allowed through 16 games are their fewest since 1958 (40). Adjust that ERA for ballpark (the Yankees have played 10 of their 16 games at homer-happy Yankee Stadium) and the offensive environment (scoring is way down), and New York's staff has been 49 percent than the league average so far this year.
Here are three under-the-radar reasons the Yankees have excelled at preventing runs 16 games into the new season.
1. Cortes is proving he's for real
New York's best starting pitcher has not been Gerrit Cole. In fact, Cole was pretty bad up until Sunday's outing against Cleveland, when he struck out nine in 6 2/3 scoreless innings. Cole allowed seven runs and 16 baserunners in only 11 1/3 innings in his first three starts, and he heard boos at Yankee Stadium on Opening Day.
The Yankees best starter this season has been Nestor Cortes, a journeyman left-hander who is in his third stint in the Yankees organization and had a 6.72 ERA in 79 big league innings prior to 2021. Last season he made a few changes to his pitch mix, added some velocity, and broke out with a 2.90 ERA in 93 innings spread 14 starts and eight relief appearances.
This year, Cortes has been even better. He's struck out 25 and allowed only two runs in 15 2/3 innings and three starts. His velocity continues to rise and he's also embraced the sweeper, which is the hard slider that is becoming popular across MLB (The Athletic's Lindsey Adler noted the Yankees call their version the "whirly").
"I thought he was really sharp today," Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters, including MLB.com's Bryan Hoch, following Saturday's game, when Cortes held Cleveland to two runs in 6 1/3 innings. "... Even when he was missing, it was just off where he wanted it. I felt like he was really pinpoint (with) his command, efficient, and working fast."
— Mike Axisa (@mikeaxisa) April 14, 2022
Now 27, Cortes has added the sweeper (and a little velocity) to his unique brand of lefty funk. He changes his delivery, drops down to sidearm, and does all sorts of things to disrupt the hitter. Bottom line, Cortes is proving last season is no fluke. He is a new pitcher and has been reliably above average since moving into the rotation last July.
2. King makes a strong bullpen even stronger
Dominant bullpens have been a staple in the Bronx the last few years. From 2017-21, the Yankees bullpen had the third-lowest ERA (3.64), third lowest WHIP (1.24), and the highest strikeout rate (27.6 percent) in baseball. The bullpen has again been excellent this season, even after losing ace setup man Zack Britton to Tommy John surgery last September.
Righty Clay Holmes has been a revelation since coming over in a trade with the Pirates at least year's deadline. Jonathan Loáisiga has some of the best raw stuff in baseball. And then there's breakout righty Michael King, who was so-so in a swingman role the last two seasons before a promising bullpen stint last September. This year, he's leveled up.
In five multi-inning relief appearances, King has allowed one earned run while striking out 18 and walking one unintentionally in 10 2/3 innings. Friday night he struck out eight of the 10 batters he faced, including seven in a row at one point. He is not a one- or even two-trick pony. King got the eight strikeouts with four different pitches (four-seamer, sinker, sweeper, changeup).
"I've always talked about, if I have four hopefully plus pitches and only two of them are working, I can get through a lineup," King told Hoch after the game. "When I have all four, it allows me to do some fun stuff, toy around with players and keep them off balance."
King's velocity jumped a grade in the bullpen and he now sits around 97 mph with a running two-seamer. He's another Yankee who has embraced the sweeper (in King's case, he learned the sweeper from former teammate Corey Kluber last year). The extra velocity and big breaking sweeper have made a world of difference for a pitcher who lacked a true out-pitch a year ago.
Michael King, 95mph Sinker and 84mph Breaking Ball, Overlay. 😲
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 23, 2022
Sinker: 18 inches run
Breaking Ball: 16 inches break. pic.twitter.com/r2J8WJKxR1
Closer Aroldis Chapman and righty Chad Green have been rocks in New York's bullpen since 2017. Now the case can be made they are the team's fourth and fifth relievers behind Holmes, King, and Loáisiga. Boone has a bevy of options, allowing him to spread the workload around and keep everyone fresh. The Yankees never seem to be short on arms.
It's not out of the question that King and his four-pitch mix will move back into the rotation at some point. For now, he's settled in as an important part of what has been an excellent Yankees bullpen in the early going. He's a multi-inning weapon with the stuff to miss bats and get ground balls against the middle of the opposing team's lineup.
"Not right now," Boone told reporters, including the New York Post's Mark Sanchez, when asked about King returning to the rotation at some point. "Just because he's so valuable in this role. He's closed a game. He's got the ability to come in and give us a few innings like he did tonight. We have five starters right now. The book is certainly not closed on that."
3. The defense is improved
And improving the defense was priority No. 1 this offseason. Run prevention is not just about the guys on the mound and last year New York's defense gave away too many free outs and forced their pitchers to throw too many extra pitches. It's sort of remarkable the pitching staff was as successful as it was while having to overcome the team's defense.
So, to clean things up, the Yankees moved Gleyber Torres to second base full-time, brought in Isiah Kiner-Falefa to play shortstop, replaced Luke Voit with Anthony Rizzo (again), replaced Gio Urshela with Josh Donaldson, and replaced Gary Sánchez with several defense-first catchers. Here's where the Yankees rank super early in the season:
| 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
Defensive efficiency | 15th in MLB | 9th in MLB |
Defensive runs saved | 29th | 15th |
Outs above average | 25th | 15th |
Pitch framing | 17th | 6th |
Defensive efficiency is a quick and dirty measure for defense. It is simply the percentage of balls in play turned into outs, and last year the Yankees were middle of the pack at 69.8 percent. This year they're in the upper third of the league at 72.2 percent. The quality of contact allowed matters, but, generally speaking, the Yankees are converting more balls in play into outs.
It is early and it is a long, long season. Pitching well in the first 16 games does not equal pitching well across all 162 games. Injuries happen and guys like Luis Severino (27 2/3 innings from 2019-21) and Jameson Taillon (ankle surgery in October) will need to be managed carefully. We'll see what happens when the Yankees inevitably have to dig deep into the organizational pitching depth.
For now, the Yankees have received superb pitching in the early going, enough to overcome an inconsistent offense en route to a 10-6 start. Cortes won't have a sub-2.00 ERA all year and the bullpen will have hiccups like every other bullpen during the long season, but last year showed this staff is legit. The Yankees have one of the game's premier pitching staffs.
