Yankees Dietrich Enns returns in time to help save the season

Yankees pitching has been a problem. And the team will need to look both on the farm and the market to solve it. Fortunately, one of the best pitchers in the minor leagues, Dietrich Enns, just returned from the DL. He might just be the key to restoring the bullpen if the Yankees will let him.

Yankees pitching prospects come with a variety of skills. Jorge Guzman, close by on Staten Island, and Domingo Acevedo, over in Penn’s Woods, can throw a ball 100 mph. That gets you noticed, even when you are stranded on an island. And it gets you to the futures game.

But if you are only good at pitching—changing locations and speeds, commanding all four of your pitches, striking guys out with guts and guile—you tend to get overlooked by the scouts. And by your organization. You have to prove that your low-90’s fastball will work against the beasts of the big league clubs.

Dietrich Enns has proved it. Since being drafted by the Yankees in the 19th round in 2012, the southpaw has been remarkably consistent and consistently remarkable. From 2012-2016, through every level of the minors, Enns pitched to a below 2.00 ERA; several stops were even below 1.00. The lone exception is a nine-game stretch back in 2013 when he pitched to a 5.63.

It all adds up to a 1.90 career ERA.

By the Numbers

His career WHIP is equally impressive: 1.088. In fact, every number on the stat sheets looks good for Enns. Take strikeouts. Dietrich threw 83 innings in 2013 and fanned 112 batters. He likewise had 55 SO’s in 2015 after only 58 innings. And he repeated the performance last year by inducing 124 SO’s in 135 innings.

While there are a lot of pitchers who have more strikeouts, many of them have a proportionately high number of walks; not Enns. The Yankees want to see a 2-1 SO/BB ratio from their pitchers. Again, Dietrich has delivered. In the above-noted years, his ratio has been 112/35, 55/20, 124/56.

And Enns does not give up a lot of home runs, allowing only 12 in his six years. Compare that to Luis Cessa, who has worse numbers in almost every category. Since 2013, he has given up 41 home runs in the minors.

I did not count his major league dingers because Enns has not played in the big leagues. But Cessa has. If his numbers gave him a shot to pitch in pinstripes, Enns numbers should at least do the

same.

Add to that the 252 hits in his 360 innings and Enns becomes the poster child for one of the most promising pitchers in the system.

Nothing More than Feelings

I’m not sure the Yankees feel the same way. I know the scouts don’t. Enns’ numbers have garnered their fair share of notice over the last two years; here is one brief write-up from earlier in 2017:

Enns has shot through the organizational ranks the last few seasons and put together an incredible 2016 campaign (1.73 ERA, 124 strikeouts in 135 innings in 26 appearances at both Double-A and Triple-A) that put him on the Yankees‘ radar.More from Yanks Go YardCarlos Correa-Giants-Mets bombshell makes Aaron Judge’s return to Yankees even betterDid Yankees troll Jon Heyman with Aaron Judge contract tweet?Matt Carpenter leaving Yankees for massive raise is hard to argue withWhat on earth is going on with Yankees, Fernando Tatis Jr. and flight to New York?4 former Yankees players New York can still reunite with in free agency

That seems like high praise. And most articles about Enns start that way. The problem is they all finish the same way, as well: Enns lack of a fast fastball destines him for either the back of the rotation or, more likely, the bullpen.

That’s not the worst fate, but it is less than his numbers seem to promise, especially as he throws from the left side.

The only real concern with Dietrich is his health. He has missed time almost every season since 2013, his longest absence stretching from May of 2014 to July of 2015 due to Tommy John surgery. This year has been no different as he went out on April 14th and returned just a couple of weeks ago on June 26th.

But none of that has affected his ability to do his job. His numbers from his three starts this year for the RailRiders prove that, as his ERA is up a tad at 2.81, but he has given up only eight hits in his sixteen innings, struck out fourteen, and sports a WHIP of 0.75.

Low Ball

All of that, however, only gets you a relatively low prospect ranking and just the hope of a call-up by the Yankees. Compare that to Domingo Acevedo, whom Yankees fans can expect to see soon. Enns bests Acevedo in career ERA (2.72), WHIP (1.19), and hits per innings pitched (277/298).

But it is Domingo and his 103-mph fastball that makes him the number 12 ranked Yankees prospect, while Dietrich is not even in the top 30. He was ranked 24th last year but, in the new rankings system, tying Jordan Montgomery for most wins by a Yankees minor league pitcher in 2016 (14) ironically lowers your ranking.

That might be a slap in the face for someone with his numbers, but it is just what the Yankees need right now. The big league bullpen needs fresh arms and Enns just came off of a two-month break.

A Mean to an Enns (Sorry)

Enns is working as a starter and might get a spot start with the Yankees. It is more likely, however, that he immediately gets put into the bullpen. Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi have to figure Enns has only so many innings in his arm per year. They are probably better off stretching the soon-to-be rookie’s innings out over 40 games than five or six starts.

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If Dietrich can come up and be anywhere close to what he has been for the last six years, the Yankees might have a dominant late inning reliever rested and ready. Any bullpen is better with a pitcher who makes his living by missing bats. Mainly because, when hitters do connect, the ball stays in the park.

If that happens, Enns will get what he did not get this year, namely, a chance to compete for a starters role. I hope that’s true. And I hope that bolstering his case, will be a 2017 Yankees team photo with players gathered around the Commissioner’s Trophy, from sometime in late October.