These Yankees Are Primed for Major Breakouts in 2017

Bryan Mitchell

One of the Yankees most impressive pitching performances this spring came from 25-year-old righty Bryan Mitchell, who made a strong case to win the fifth starter’s job during the Grapefruit League, allowing just one earned run over 15.2 innings of work.

Three days after making the big league roster out of spring training for the first time in his young career, Mitchell suffered a fractured toe that would keep him out of game action for the first four months of the regular season.

With the Yankees running low on viable starters in September, the team turned to Mitchell despite the fact that he had made just two starts for Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre after being activated from the disabled list. Skipper Joe Girardi sounded very impressed with Mitchell’s repertoire before the young righthander made his 2016 debut in the Bronx.

"He has a four-pitch mix. He has velocity, he has a cutter, a curveball and a changeup. I think he has a swing-and-miss curveball and also one that he can throw for strikes. If his stuff plays out as well as we think it can, and we’ve seen at times, I think he can be a pretty good starter."

Considering how much time he missed this year, Mitchell’s results were pretty solid in his five starts in the final month of the season, pitching to a 3.24 ERA and 4.23 FIP in 25 innings. There were some obvious signs of rust, of course. He ended up with more walks (12) than strikeouts (11) and never had more than 3 Ks in any appearance, but he showed excellent poise for his age on the mound, and battled through adversity admirably.

With a normal offseason to recover, Mitchell should show up next spring at full strength and a favorite to win of the team’s two open rotation jobs. He’ll compete with Luis Severino, Luis Cessa, and Chad Green.

Most fans think of Mitchell as more of a long reliever, but if he can harness his nasty stuff and limit the free passes, he could emerge as a solid mid-rotation guy next year. As long as he stays healthy, I’ll predict a 3.50 ERA, 8.5 K/9, and 120 IP.