After signing Gerrit Cole, the Yankees now have one of the best current pitchers in the MLB. There’s a high chance he will be the ace for the team this year. The Yankees pitching rotation should look different than it did in 2019. Here is a potential pitching rotation for the New York Yankees to start 2020.
1.) Gerrit Cole
Gerrit Cole signed a nine-year deal with the Yankees. This was after spending two seasons with the Astros where he finished in the top five for AL Cy Young voting in both seasons with the team. Through his first seven big league seasons, he finished with an ERA below 3.00 in three of them. This includes last seasons 2.50 ERA that also featured 326 strikeouts, which led the league.
Cole made the Postseason four times and has had some impressive numbers then too. He’s pitched in 10 playoff games and has a 0.868 WHIP along with a 2.60 ERA.
2.) Masahiro Tanaka
This could be useful for the Yankees if Masahiro Tanaka pitches behind Cole. Cole has a high velocity and has gotten high amounts of strikeouts. However, Tanaka has been known to get a lot of outs on the ground due to his splitter. This can make for a tough adjustment for some batters, especially if these guys are pitching back-to-back games.
Tanaka has a 3.75 ERA through his first six big league seasons. He also has one shutout pitched in each of the last three years.
3.) Luis Severino
More towards the high velocity side of pitching, Luis Severino can continue this trend of switching pitching styles in the Yankees rotation. He missed much of 2019 due to an injury. Prior to that year, Sevy made the All-Star game two years in a row and finished in the top 10 for the AL Cy Young voting. In 2019 after he returned from the injury, he made three starts. Through 12 innings, he allowed just 2 earned runs which gave him a 1.50 ERA in that short span.
4.) James Paxton
James Paxton is entering his second season as a New York Yankee. In his first, he made 29 starts and pitched 150 2/3 innings on the year. Although his walks were up at 55, he did have 186 strikeouts on the season. He also gave up 23 home runs, which is high even if he pitched some of his games at Yankee Stadium. Lowering both walks and homers can be a tough task, but it can really help Paxton have some notable innings on the mound in 2020.
5.) Jordan Montgomery
The second southpaw in-a-row is Jordan Montgomery. He hasn’t pitched many regular season innings over the past two seasons. However, he can still be an option in the rotation this season. Montgomery pitched a majority of his innings in his rookie season which was 2017. That year, he finished sixth in the AL Rookie of the Year voting. He had a 3.88 ERA over 29 starts.
J.A. Happ can also go here, but there have been multiple reports of him potentially not being with the Yankees this season.
Feature Image Courtesy of KFGO.
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