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Yankees News: Pitching Coach Larry Rothschild Praises Prospect Jacob Lindgren

By Michael Cambria

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New York Yankees pitching prospect Jacob Lindgren lives about nine hours west of George M. Steinbrenner field in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi. Add on another hour if you were to head even more west to the site of the Philadelphia Phillies spring training complex in Clearwater, Florida, and that’s how far Lindgren’s parents, Stephen and Jacqueline have traveled to see their son make his Spring Training debut for first time Tuesday.

“I’m really just looking forward to it,” Jacob Lindgren said in the Yankees’ clubhouse Monday afternoon.

According to Brendan Kuty of NJ.com Lindgren also mentioned that a few buddies from his hometown might make the trip to see him pitch also. But when he’s out on the mound and works to solidify a spot on the big league roster, the friendly faces in the stands will be far from the top prospect’s mind.

“Just focusing on doing what I’ve been doing,” said Lindgren, whom the Yankees drafted as a Mississippi State University junior with their first overall pick in the second round (55th) of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft. 

Lindgren, 21, is looking to start his spring by picking right up where his impressive 2014 rookie campaign left off.

Last season in the minors, Lindgren earned the nickname ‘The Strikeout Factory’ from Yankees officials who watched him power through 24.2 innings pitched with a ridiculous 17.5 K/9 rate and an impressive 2.19 ERA across four minor league levels.

He finished off the year at Double-A with the Trenton Thunder and might very well end up there again to start the season. But, the feisty southpaw said his goal, as lofty as it might be when you look at the potential of the Yankees bullpen, is to head to the Bronx on the big league roster at the culmination of Spring Training.

I personally believe Lindgren has a shot. The Yankees really only have five bullpen spots lined up so far from what I’ve seen, one for Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller, David Carpenter, Justin Wilson and Adam Warren, respectively. Alas, if Warren is converted into a starter to start the season, that leaves two or three spots un-occupied, and you can bet that Lindgren already has his sights set on filling one of them.

According to Kuty, Lindgren said he already has a plan in place that aims at getting him to the Bronx. It’s not too complicated, in fact it’s rather simple –  just working on his command. He posted a 4.7 BB/9  in 2014, and will need to improve on that mark if he’s going to pitch in the big leagues.

That plan has already been set in motion from the very moment that Lindgren arrived to ‘Captain’s Camp’ along with 15 other top Yankees Prospects on January 17th. For those of you who aren’t familiar with ‘Captains Camp’, it’s a six-week training program initiated by Gary Denbo, the Yankees new Vice President of Player Development to bring prospects together before the start of Spring Training.

Pitching coach Larry Rothschild said Monday that he’s ‘been impressed with Lindgren so far and that he has the ability to get major league outs right now’.

When told Lindgren said he felt like he needed to improve his command a bit, the Yankees pitching coach said Lindgren simply needed to try not to be “too fine,” with his pitch location. In other words, Lindgren needs to try to not try so hard and let the same pitching instincts that got him to this level take over.

Rothschild added that while the young left-hander has a major-league ready slider, the late movement on his fastball can also keep big league batters off-balance.

Today Lindgren tossed 0.2 IP, giving up two hits and two Phillies runs, but he did manage to recored one strikeout. Someone, somewhere, is ready to call him a bust, I’m sure, but do keep in mind that this was just the first game of spring training and panicking is not something that should be on your mind right now.

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