Spring Training Recap: Week Four

Games

Monday, March 21- Off-Day

For the second week in a row, Joe Girardi gave the team a complete day off to rest on Monday. No workouts or practices were held.

Tuesday, March 22

This game featured one of the most exciting pitching matchups of the spring in Luis Severino vs. Steven Matz, and predictably there was no way to watch it. In 2016 it seems ridiculous that paying fans can’t access games like this. Severino out-dueled his fellow young phenom, striking out five and one in 4.1 IP while allowing two earned runs. Despite his horrendous first start, Sevvy has lowered his spring ERA to a respectable 3.86.

He was followed by the best 1-2-3 bullpen punch in the history of the sport, who combined to strike out another five in 2.2 scoreless innings. Diego Moreno and Tyler Olson couldn’t help but be a let-down after that despite their best efforts.

Offensively, it was a team effort, as Didi Gregorius, Brett Gardner, Alex Rodriguez, and Dustin Fowler singled in runs, while Carlos Beltran contributed a sac fly.

Box Score and Video Highlights

Wednesday, March 23

The National completely pulverized Masahiro Tanaka and the Yanks in their first and only meeting of the spring. Tanaka allowed seven runs in his four innings of work, including home runs by Wilson Ramos and our old pal Stephen Drew. This was the second straight rough outing by Tanaka. While small sample size and the unreliability of spring training stats obviously apply here, any time Tanaka struggles you can’t help but jump to the dreaded elbow issue. The Yankees have been hesitant to commit to him as the Opening Day starter despite the fact that he’s currently lined up perfectly for that duty. Maybe they know something we don’t.

Future-Yankee Stephen Strasburg made the offensive look foolish for five impeccable innings, striking out nine and allowing only one extra base hit, a double by Austin Romine. New York did accumulate ten hits on the day, but never managed to mount a successful rally.

Box Score and Video Highlights

Thursday, March 24

The Yankees wasted CC Sabathia’s strongest outing of Grapefruit League play, allowing PECOTA’s darlings to cruise to an easy 6-2 victory. Most of the damage came courtesy of bullpen-hopeful Tyler Olson, who allowed a leadoff triple, a walk, two singles, and hit two batters before Kirby Yates was called in to stop the bleeding. Yates, Chasen Shreve, and Branden Pinder finished the game strong with 3.1 scoreless, striking out a combined five batters, but the offense failed to take advantage.

Brian McCann blasted his fourth double of the spring off of Matt Andriese, and infielders Ronald Torreyes and Pete Kozma contributed rare extra base hits as well. Carlos Beltran singled in the first Yankee run in the second inning, with the other coming on a wild pitch by Steve Geltz in the seventh that allowed Kozma to score.

Box Score and Video Highlights

Friday, March 25

This was frustrating game to watch, even in the spring. The Yankee bullpen blew leads in both the ninth and tenth innings to let the Orioles squeak by and take the victory. Rob Refsnyder committed two ugly errors in the tenth before leaving the game after getting hit in the face with a ground ball. The first bump in the road for the third base experiment was bound to happen at some point. Ivan Nova most likely eliminated himself from the fifth starter competition, assuming it ever existed, by allowing three walks and three homers in just 4.2 IP. The command remains a major issue. 

On the plus side, Brett Gardner is starting to look more like himself. He went 2-4 with an RBI triple and a beautifully placed bunt single up the third base line. Chris Denorfia added a three-run bomb in the second. Johnny Barbato and James Pazos continued their recent string of strong performances with a combined 2.1 scoreless innings. They aren’t typically considered front-runners for the open bullpen spots but have definitely made this a tough decision for Yankees’ brass.

Box Score and Video Highlights

Saturday, March 26

Bryan Mitchell cruised through the first four innings of this game, striking out four and allowing just one base runner. While his 2016 role is still unclear, Mitchell’s improved control is looking more and more legitimate, as he has an 11:1 K/BB  ratio this month. Branden Pinder picked up the W and lowered his Grapefruit League ERA to a sparkling 1.42, certainly not hurting his chances of breaking camp with the team.

Aaron Hicks led off the game with a solo shot, his second of the spring. A-Rod and Tex drove in two more in the sixth, and then Deibinson Romero scored on an error by Toronto catcher Tony Sanchez in the ninth. For the second consecutive game, Rob Refsnyder was hit in the face by a sharply hit ground ball, calling into question his ability to make the transition to third base with so little game time before the season.

Box Score and Video Highlights

Sunday, March 27

Continuing his strong spring, former Yankees disappointment and occasional Twins ace Phil Hughes shut down the New York offense over six innings on Sunday. The only damage against Hughes was a solo shot against Brett Gardner in the fourth. In the ninth, Austin Romine tacked on another run by driving in Paul’s nephew, Michael O’Neill, but it was too little, too late. Jacoby Ellsbury went 0-3 in his first game back from a sore wrist.

Nathan Eovaldi cruised through the first five innings, allowing one run and striking out five. The wheels came off in the sixth, as four hits, a walk, and an error by Gardner in left field gave the Twins a comfortable four run lead. Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller, Chasen Shreve, and Kirby Yates combined for another 3.2 scoreless innings to finish the game.

Box Score and Video Highlights

General News

• Former Yankees announcer Joe Garagiola passed away at age 90. Garagiola played for four teams in his nine-year big league career before moving on to call Yankees games for WPIX from 1965-1967. He’s best remembered as a longtime member of NBC’s broadcasting team and as a lifelong friend of Yankee legend Yogi Berra.
• Slade Heathcott, Gary Sanchez, James Pazos, Nick Rumbelow, and Rob Refsnyder were optioned to Triple-A
• Chris Denorfia elected to opt-out of his contract with the Yankees and became a free agent
• Keith Law of ESPN named Aaron Hicks on his annual list of potential breakout players.
• Derek Jeter was on hand to watch the Rays face the Cuban National team in Havana.
• Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported that Aaron Judge has been working with Reggie Jackson recently and the early results have been positive.
• Former Yankees farmhand Peter O’Brien recorded the highest exit velocity of any home run hit since the inception of the Statcast technology. His blast was measured at 119.5 mph. O’Brien was traded to the Diamondbacks at the deadline in 2014 for Martin Prado.
• The team announced Thursday that Luis Severino and Gary Sanchez had won the 2015 Kevin Lawn Award for the organization’s best minor league pitcher and position player.

Injuries

• Slade Heathcott began dealing with a sore right shoulder last Sunday. It’s a minor injury that isn’t expected to impact his status for the beginning of the regular season.
• Mason Williams is still taking it slow in his recovery from the shoulder surgery that ended his season last August. As of Wednesday, he had progressed to taking batting practice and throwing from 90 feet.
• Jacoby Ellsbury was scratched from his expected starts both Thursday and Friday because of lingering soreness in his wrist before returning in Sunday’s game. His injuries always seem to drag on much longer than expected and this has been no exception.
• Rob Refsnyder left both Friday and Saturday’s games after being hit in the face by sharply hit ground balls. The first left a scratch under his cheek, but he was otherwise fine. The second also struck him in the cheek bone and he was taken to be examined by a doctor following the game.

Position Battles

• Fifth Starter: CC Sabathia likely secured his position on the team Thursday with a decent outing against the Rays. Ivan Nova has continued to struggle with his command his last few times out, and even with Bryan Mitchell’s fantastic performance of late, he is unlikely to be seen as serious candidate for the rotation at this point. Sabathia just needed to avoid complete disaster in the last two weeks of the Grapefruit League, and as this point it appears he’ll manage that.
• Backup Catcher: Gary Sanchez was optioned to Triple-A Thursday, leaving Austin Romine as the de facto victor of the backup catcher competition. Service time considerations aside, the 23-year-old Sanchez could probably benefit from a little more minor-league seasoning judging by his performance this month. For his part, Romine has earned an extended look with the Yankees after spending most of his last five years catching for the RailRiders. The 27-year-old will be entering his tenth season in the Yankees’ organization.
• Backup Infielder: Rob Refsnyder had all but been anointed the Yankees backup infielder before making three errors in two games at the hot corner on Friday and Saturday. These errors were especially grisly because Refsnyder was struck in the face on two of them and forced out of consecutive games due to facial injuries. Sunday morning he was reassigned to Triple-A, effectively removing him from the competition. Pete Kozma and Ronald Torreyes are the two other candidates for the job remaining in camp, and both have been playing frequently of late. With five seasons of MLB experience under his belt, the light-hitting Kozma may tentatively be the favorite at this point, now that the team has shied away from Refsnyder.
• Final Three Bullpen Spots: The Yankees further narrowed down the pool of arms in big league camp by optioning James Pazos and Nick Rumbelow to Triple-A Scranton. It’s hard to believe that Bryan Mitchell will not make the team in some capacity with the spring he’s having, so that leaves eight relievers remaining in major league camp for two spots. Anthony Swarzak and Diego Moreno don’t have 40 man roster spots and Luis Cessa is almost certainly going to be in the RailRiders rotation, so that leaves Tyler Olson, Johnny Barbato, Branden Pinder, Kirby Yates, and Nick Goody as the finalists.

Lead photo: Kim Klement / USA Today Sports