Marcus Stroman sharp again, looks like Yankees' No. 2 starter
Marcus Stroman of the Yankees delivers a pitch to the Blue Jays in the first inning during a Grapefruit League Spring Training game at TD Ballpark on Friday in Dunedin, Fla. Credit: Getty Images/Julio Aguilar
DUNEDIN, Fla.
The Yankees’ No. 0 is shaping up to be their No. 2 starter.
Maybe that wasn’t necessarily the original plan when Marcus Stroman signed his two-year, $37 million deal in January, serving as a (much) lower-cost pivot from Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who spurned the Yankees for a $324 million contract with the Dodgers. But as long as Blake Snell remains in free-agent limbo (forget Jordan Montgomery), Stroman appears to be settling in to follow Gerrit Cole in that opening series against the Astros at Minute Maid Park.
Manager Aaron Boone strongly hinted at that scenario Friday before the Yankees’ 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays at TD Ballpark. In discussing the team’s two-game visit to Mexico City near the end of this month, Boone said Stroman and Nestor Cortes likely will stay behind to pitch the split-squad exhibitions scheduled for those same days (March 24-25) in Tampa.
Because Stroman (who threw four hitless, scoreless innings Friday) currently is lined up ahead of Cortes (who will pitch Saturday against the Twins in Fort Myers), Boone’s projection points to a Cole-Stroman-Cortes top three. Where that puts the concerning Carlos Rodon and the on-the-rise Clarke Schmidt remains to be seen, but there appears to be a lot of juggling with the $162 million Rodon, leaving open the possibility that he could be the expensive caboose of this rotation.
On Friday, Stroman definitely performed like a No. 2 option, going up against his first MLB club and onetime Met Chris Bassitt. The former Patchogue-Medford star spun through his deep repertoire, going more with the changeup late, and even got to flex his Gold Glove fielding chops on Alejandro Kirk’s dribbler near the mound to open the second inning. The Blue Jays’ only baserunners during the 53-pitch effort involved a two-out walk in the second and a catcher’s interference called on Ben Rortvedt to start the third.
“Sharp,” Boone said. “He’s been sharp really all spring.”
The Yankees should feel encouraged by this version of Stroman, who's on schedule and on point for early March. The challenge is to keep him that way. Stroman is an admitted conditioning freak, astonishing teammates in the weight room every place he’s been. But it’s the freakish injuries from last year — the hip inflammation followed by the rib cartilage fracture that derailed him after an All-Star first half — that leave Stroman with something to prove as far as being brilliant over an entire season.
Obviously, general manager Brian Cashman is betting on him doing just that. And Stroman believes he’s figured out the reasons why his 2023 season went downhill so abruptly after the first three months.
Through 16 starts, Stroman was among the top pitchers in baseball with a 2.28 ERA, a .190 opponents' batting average and a 1.02 WHIP. His 59.9 ground-ball percentage ranked second in the majors behind the Giants’ Logan Webb (60.7). In other words, Stroman was operating at peak Stroman levels.
Then came the Cubs’ trip to London, where Stroman lasted only 3 1/3 innings as the Cardinals pounded him for six runs and eight hits in a June 25 loss. It was a stunning lapse after such a superb first half, and it began a seven-start span through the end of July in which he had a 9.00 ERA before winding up on the injured list with hip inflammation. Just when he was on the brink of returning, Stroman suffered the rib cartilage fracture, an unusual baseball injury.
“When I look back, I think it was just a little too much load in a short span of time, especially with that London series,” Stroman said after Friday’s outing. “I felt pretty good, but I threw a lot before that London series. They ended up skipping two guys and throwing me, and it was just too much with the travel, so I kind of struggled after that.”
Before that London start, Stroman’s 98 2/3 innings ranked fourth in MLB behind the Rangers’ Nathan Eovaldi (99 2/3), Cole (99) and the Astros’ Framber Valdez (99). Stroman pitched only eight innings in September after returning from the cartilage injury, but he sounded confident Friday that those issues are far behind him.
“I’m very in tune with my body, so it’s definitely something I learned about the process and the load within it,” Stroman said. “I feel like any time you go through something like that, it’s a learning experience, you take bits and pieces, and use that going forward. My body and my mind are in a great place right now.”
That place, in Stroman’s view, is on the Yankees. I remember talking to him in the Bronx around the 2019 trade deadline, when Stroman was a member of the Blue Jays but seemed hopeful that he could come home to New York and wear pinstripes. Instead, he was dealt to the Mets, making him wait more than four years before ultimately getting to the Yankees, who desperately need that first-half Stroman of a year ago. At the moment, everything is lining up in that direction.
“I’m just very grateful to be in this position,” Stroman said. “They just want me to come in and truly be myself. They want me to be exactly who I am. They’ve made that very apparent from the beginning.”
For this rotation, at this time, the Yankees are counting on that Marcus Stroman.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
