Yankees Chad Green Earned Himself A Rotation Spot

New York Yankees pitcher Chad Green wasn’t projected to be in the rotation, but a combination of injuries to other starters and strong performances have helped him force his way in.

Yankees righthander Chad Green, starting in place of injured starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi (who we just found out today is getting two major surgeries), shut down the Toronto Blue Jays in his return to the major leagues on Monday.

The start was easily Green’s best of the season. He tossed six shutout innings, giving up just two hits in the outing and striking out a career-high 11 batters.

The win was the fifth in the last seven games for the New York Yankees, who sit five and a half games out of the second Wild Card spot coming into Wednesday night. A day after the outing, it was announced that Green, along with Luis Cessa, would be joining the rotation for the remainder of the season.

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Green, as you may recall, came over to the Yankees with Luis Cessa in the trade with the Detroit Tigers for reliever Justin Wilson. Originally an 11^th round pick by the Tigers, Green was never considered a top prospect, though he flashes four pitches that could earn him a spot in the rotation for the long haul.

When Green is on, there’s reason to believe he has a bright future ahead of him. However, when he’s off, he looks like someone that could wind up being a career bullpen arm. Against the Jays, Green was on. Just take a look the nasty slider that he threw Justin Smoak, which you can see here

Watching Green the rest of the season will be very interesting, given the fact that he mixes five pitches, with three that are at least league average. According to Brooks Baseball, Green generates a swing-and-miss volume against his four-seam fastball that is greater than the league average. 

Additionally, his slider and cutter also generate a high number of ground balls, which is immensely valuable. With three pitches that can get outs, there’s no reason to believe Green can’t stick in the rotation. Ivan Nova showed us for years how long someone could stay in a rotation with just two pitches (though, let’s not compare Green to Nova).

What made this start even more impressive is that it came against an offensive powerhouse like the Blue Jays. Green’s previous start came against the sluggish New York Mets, who chased him out of the game in the fourth inning. The Blue Jays, sixth in baseball in runs scored and second in home runs, could not seem to figure Green out.

Aside from an Aaron Judge RBI double, the offense was unable to provide Green with any run support. The Yankees loaded the bases twice in the game, the sixth and eighth innings, and failed to score both times. In total, the team was a measly 2-18 with runners in scoring position, leaving a total of 14 runners on base.

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With Nathan Eovaldi out for the rest of this season and all of next season, the Yankees are crossing their fingers that Green can continue to prove himself worthy for a rotation spot. With freshly demoted Luis Severino in Triple-A, the time is now for Green to solidify himself as a part of the Yankees future rotation plans. Otherwise, he could see himself moving to the bullpen as soon as 2017.