By Sal Maiorana
June 1, 2024
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Sal Maiorana, a friend of the site, shares some of his thoughts on the Yankees.
For Sal's analysis on the New York Yankees, you can subscribe to Sal Maiorana's free Pinstripe People Newsletter at https://salmaiorana.beehiiv.com/subscribe.
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Well, it was bound to happen. Bad news before the Yankees rolled to a victory over the Angels that gave them yet another series win.
Clarke Schmidt, who has been their second-best starting pitcher, is on the injured list with a lat strain, Aaron Boone said he won’t even be throwing for 4-to-6 weeks, so there goes at least two and probably three months of his season. What a bummer, and it’s a huge blow given that his ERA is 2.52 over his 11 starts.
“It’s definitely devastating,” Schmidt said. “I’m probably having the most fun I’ve ever had playing this game in my career. Not only having success, but the team’s winning, the pitching staff’s doing really well, and it’s just fun being able to go out there and compete every five days with these guys.
“A big part of me is I pride myself on being available and being a guy they can rely on every five days to go out there and give them a chance to win ballgames. So a big part of me feels like I’m letting the team down because I’m not doing that part of being available every five days.”
Cody Poteet will be called up to take Schmidt’s turn in the rotation Saturday in San Francisco. Poteet has been on the IL but he’s ready to return.
Clayton Beeter might have been an option, but he’s currently on the IL and unavailable, so Poteet will get his second start for New York. Remember, he pitched the second game of an April 13 doubleheader in Cleveland because a rainout messed up the rotation, and he pitched well against the Guardians, one run on six hits across six innings to get the win. Other than that, every other game has been pitched by the starting five that began the season.
How has that gone? The Yankees’ rotation has the second-best team ERA in MLB at 2.73 and just had their record streak of 16 games of a starter going at least five innings and allowing two or fewer runs snapped Thursday night with Carlos Rodon on the mound. Meaning, Poteet has some very big cleats to fill.
Here are my observations:
➤ That streak should have continued because Rodon was great. He gave up a solo homer to Logan O’Hoppe in the second inning, then retired 14 men in a row. In his first six innings he retired 18 of the 19 men he faced, but then in the seventh - after the Yankees had taken a 7-1 lead - he gave up a walk, a single and then an RBI double to, who else, Kevin Pillar. Ian Hamilton, in his first appearance since coming off the IL, struck out two men before walking Zach Neto to load the bases. So Caleb Ferguson entered and of course, he gave up an RBI single to Willie Calhoun and that third run, charged to Rodon, ended the streak. Ferguson has been brutal almost all year. “Sign me up for six-plus innings and three runs that Carlos got us tonight,” Boone said. “Start another (streak) hopefully tomorrow.”
➤ Another streak came to an end as Anthony Volpe’s hitting streak was snapped at 21 as he went 0-for-4. He did draw a walk and score a run, though. It was the longest streak by a Yankee since Robinson Cano’s 23-gamer in 2012. “What a run it’s been for him,” Boone said. “He had one of the biggest at-bats of the night in that inning where we were able to score a big number. You’re not chasing a hit, you’re chasing a good at-bat. To get over 20 games, especially now, is pretty impressive.” During the streak Volpe slashed .341/.378/.550 with an OPS of .927, 10 RBI and four stolen bases.
➤ Aaron Judge got the offense rolling on Thursday night when he hit his 18th homer of the year, tying him for the MLB lead, a two-run blast in the fourth which followed a walk to Juan Soto by Angels starter Patrick Sandoval, and the Yankees never trailed again. Judge’s 1.020 OPS now leads MLB, just ahead of Shohei Ohtani. (Of note - Judge then finished May off with two more homers on Friday night!)
➤ Judge joined Lou Gehrig (July, 1930) as the only Yankee in history to hit at least 12 home runs and 12 doubles in a month. Also, Judge’s 26 extra-base hits in May are the most in a month since Joe DiMaggio had 31 in July of 1937. “There’s still a lot of work to do,” Judge said. “Like I’ve been saying, it doesn’t matter how you start. You’re always going to have good months, bad months. You just try to stay consistent and it’s all going to work itself out. It’s been a good month with a lot of wins, so I’m happy about that. We’ll keep it rolling in June.”
I had mentioned in another thread that unfortunately, the "pleasant problem" the Yankees would have when Cole is ready to return would "resolve itself" in an unpleasant way, as injury to one of the starters was, unfortunately, inevitable. Still it is tough to see, and I would have rather had the dilemma of "do they or don't they go to a 6 man rotation", but unfortunately, that "dilemma" is unlikely. Now, we can only hope that Cody Poteet can "bridge the gap" until Gerrit Cole is ready to go. And when Clarke Schmidt IS ready to return and be his effective self, we can only hope that this "dilemma" and "pleasant problem" happens when THAT time comes.
Another May observation.…
My rambling thoughts on this club do far;
Judge has held up nicely in CF, with giving him the one DH day a week, and with all the extra off days built into the new schedule. Not great range, but enough that every ball that should be gotten to, is. And, as I've said before, Judge in CF is probably a one year deal, provided they like Dominguez there and move Judge to LF if they re-sign Soto.
Poteet has a lot to live up to for his 4 or 5 starts until Cole is ready.
I'm guessing that Schmidt will be a long man out if the pen when he comes back, to get him back sooner.
Volpe is…
Schmidt was really coming along, maturing and more than repaying the trust in him demonstrated by the Yankee organization.
the month of June is going to be a bit bumpier than was May, but the team looks to be pretty resilient as well as confident and talented