The New York Yankees have experienced quite a few pleasant surprises so far this season, with perhaps the least expected being Ryan Yarbrough. The 33-year-old veteran, signed by the Yankees just a few days before the start of the season, has arguably been one of the Yankees’ best pitchers so far. He has seamlessly transitioned into a starting role, which is no small feat in a rotation including Max Fried and Carlos Rodon at the top of their games.
Conversion from Relief
Yarbrough started the season coming out of the bullpen, pitching 15 1/3 innings over 8 appearances in relief. Over that span, he struck out 16 batters, walking 6 and allowing 7 earned runs. Then, on May 3 against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Yankees decided to allow Yarbrough to start the game over Carlos Carrasco, who just wasn’t able to provide too many solid outings anymore. This wasn’t his first go-around as a starter, though, having started 68 games in his career since debuting in 2018.
Since that game against the Rays, in which he allowed just a single run over 4 innings, the Yankees have utilized him as their fifth starter, behind Fried, Rodon, Clarke Schmidt, and Will Warren. In his 5 starts this season, Yarbrough owns a record of 3-0, an ERA of 2.08, and has issued just 5 walks to 24 strikeouts over 26 innings. At this rate, the Yankees should have zero intentions of removing him from the rotation.
Filling the Void
Starting pitching hasn’t been a particularly weak spot for New York so far, but it certainly could be a lot stronger. Outside of Fried and Rodon, they’ve had some mixed performances from Schmidt, Warren, and Carrasco, who was demoted to the minors on Tuesday for the second time this season. It appeared that the team was hoping Schmidt would perform similarly to how he did last season, when he pitched to a 2.85 ERA over 16 starts, and that Warren would take a big leap forward into becoming a true major league-level pitcher. Neither of those outcomes has happened, at least not yet, so there has been a sizable hole in production and innings out of the rotation.
Enter Yarbrough; the veteran reliever has been lights out as a starter, dicing up hitters with a fastball that tops out at 88 mph, excellent stuff, and pinpoint command. According to Baseball Savant, Yarbrough is in the 94th and 97th percentiles in terms of barrel percentage (3.6%) and hard-hit percentage (27.3%) out of all major league pitchers this season. His lack of velocity (which is in the 1st percentile) doesn’t affect his game at all; he is one of the best examples in the game today of pitchers who utilize a mix of changing speeds and inducing soft contact, rather than the new wave of velocity and strikeouts, to get hitters out.
Will it Last?
Yarbrough will look to continue his streak of dominance this weekend against the Boston Red Sox. With Max Fried getting the ball on Thursday to conclude the series against the Cleveland Guardians, Yarbrough should theoretically get the start on Saturday. If his history says anything about him, it’s that the left-hander will always be available to handle a lot of innings throughout the season, no matter where they come from. Perhaps with the help of the Yankees’ excellent pitching coaches, Yarbrough will be able to maintain this streak of great starts; he certainly has the stuff and ability to do it. Maybe, if the Yankees are lucky, he’ll even be able to ride the rotation throughout the summer and into the fall. When Luis Gil returns sometime this summer, it’ll be a tough decision for the Yankees to decide where to put one of their best arms.
