Yankees News: C.C. Sabathia Gearing Up For First Start of 2015

For the first time in his seven year stint with the New York Yankees, C.C. Sabathia watched Opening Day from the dugout.

It was an unfamiliar situation for Sabathia, but his own personal Opening Day will be on Thursday night when the southpaw will start his season against Daniel Norris, one of the most exciting prospects in the game.

I hate to rain on Norris’ parade, but Thursday night is all about the former ace. Not only will he be making his first start of the 2015 season, but it’ll be his first major league start since undergoing season-ending microscopic knee surgery last May.

Prior to the season-ending surgery, the southpaw got off to a shaky start. He struggled to a 3-4 record with a 5.28 ERA in his first eight starts of the season. It’s been a long road back, but Sabathia is insisting that he’s healthy and ready to go.

Sabathia fielded some questions from the media prior to Wednesday evening’s matchup between the Yankees and Blue Jays, and according to Brendan Kuty of Nj.com, here are the three takeaways:

First and foremost, Sabathia feels good. He made three spring training starts and didn’t pitch particularly well. In 10.0 innings pitched, Sabathia gave up nine runs, all of which were earned and 14 hits, three of which left the ballpark as home runs. Still, Sabathia stated that he isn’t worried about his grapefruit league numbers. Sabathia said, all he was worried about was “Just playing catch and making sure I’m getting out there and out in front and feeling the ball come out out in front. Playing catch these last couple of days and throwing in the bullpen I really made sure I could get a feel for my fastball and make sure I can put it in good spots.”

Next, despite being 34-years old and a 14-year veteran, Sabathia has a longstanding habit of getting completely jacked up before his starts. When asked about his start Thursday, Sabathia said “I don’t want to try to hold myself back. If I’m too amped up, I’m too amped up. It is what it is. I don’t want to kind of put anything on myself, no governor. So we’ll see.” Is this a cause for concern? No chance. Every athlete goes through their own routines and if this is what get’s the big guy going, than so be it.

Last but not least, Sabathia told Kuty that he had some trouble gripping the ball down in Florida due to the warm weather which made his hands sweat during spring training. The southpaw added that he doesn’t expect this to be a problem on Thursday night. The forecast now-a-days in the Bronx is anything but warm. We’re expecting temperature in the low 40s around game time. “I pitched in the cold weather a lot coming from Cleveland and being here[New York], so I can deal with it.”

2,821.1 innings into his career, let’s see what the 34-year old veteran has left in his tank. First pitch is approximately scheduled for 7:05pm!

Let’s go C.C. !

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