Yankees Should Be Optimistic After Tanaka’s Return

Entering Sunday afternoon’s matinee with the Toronto Blue Jays, there was an extreme sense of fear swirling around the Yankees Universe, due to the fact that treasured rookie Masahiro Tanaka was taking the mound for the first time since July 8th. He had been sidelined with a partially torn Ulnar-Collateral Ligament (UCL), a condition that often requires Tommy John surgery, which many people believed that he and the team should have opted for.

However, when Tanaka walked off of the mound with one out in the sixth inning, many of those fears had been relieved. He had completed 5.1 innings, while giving up five hits (two of which would have been double-play ground balls if not for extreme infield shifts), no walks, one run, and striking out four. He finished with 70 pitches (48 strikes).

The only hole that could potentially be poked in Tanaka’s performance was his fastball. The pitch came in at about 88-90 MPH for most of the night, and four of the five hits he surrendered came against it.

Overall, the concern over his fastball is unjustified, as it will take time for the righty’s arm strength to return to normal. Only then, will his fastball velocity return to the low-mid 90s as it was at the beginning of the season. This cannot be emphasized enough; his velocity will improve over time.

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The effectiveness of Tanaka’s off-speed pitches were the most important things to examine, and of the six swings and misses he produced, three of them came on splitters. He also mixed in his slider and curveball effectively throughout the game.

Sunday is and should be considered a success. Tanaka might be the single biggest key to the Yankees’ future contention and it’s crucial that he remain healthy for years to come.