Yankees Pitcher Nathan Eovaldi is Healthy and Ready to Go

After sitting out the final month of the season with an elbow injury, the health of New York Yankees pitcher Nathan Eovaldi remained a mystery all winter.

While there had been some hope that the 26-year old Nathan Eovaldi would return and pitch out of the bullpen for the New York Yankees in the American League Divisional Series, he sat in the dugout and watched as his team was ousted by Dallas Keuchel and the Houston Astros in the American League Wild Card Game – which abruptly ended the Yankees season and any chance of Eovaldi returning from injury.

Just over four months to the day, Eovaldi reported to spring training pain free and said he’s healthy and ready to go:

"“I haven’t had any problems,” Eovaldi told Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News on Friday. “Especially going back home in the offseason, the first time I picked up a ball was Dec. 10, so I had a good month and a half off and I was doing shoulder care. I haven’t had an issues with it. If I didn’t know I had it, I wouldn’t know I was hurt.”"

Having redefined his career with pitching coach Larry Rothschild and the New York Yankees, Eovaldi who pitched to a 14-3 record with a 4.20 ERA before suffering his injury, still knows he has a ton of work to do.

Despite posting an American League-best .824 winning percentage last season with the Yankees, Eovaldi noted that his walks (49) were up and his innings (5.7 IP per start) were low, and he wants to improve on both as he enters the 2016 season.

Decent command of his splitter will be crucial for Eovaldi in 2016, as he found some success with it in the second half of last season when pitched to a 9-1 record with a 3.43 ERA over a 14-game stretch. As a matter of fact, according to Brooks Baseball, Eovaldi’s splitter (89mph) is thrown extremely hard and is a ‘real worm killer’ that generates an extreme number of groundballs compared to other pitchers’ splitters around the league.

Naturally, the Yankees decided to place Eovaldi’s locker right next to the newly acquired Aroldis Chapman‘s this spring. Both pitchers are known for their gas guzzling fastballs, and Eovaldi’s average 96.6 mph fastball was the hardest of any pitcher is baseball last season who logged over 100 innings pitched – but Aroldis Chapman and his record setting 105.1 mph fastball might just put Eovaldi’s velocity to the test.