Yankees bullpen is back to being the best relief core in baseball

It may have taken longer than many expected but the Yankees bullpen has finally re-established themselves as the best relief core in the game today.

Coming into the season the Yankees bullpen was highly regarded as the best baseball had to offer. After the collective dominance this group displayed down the stretch of last season and during the playoff run that followed there was little argument against that claim.

However, early on this season, the Yankees pen struggled with consistency across the board outside of closer Aroldis Chapman and last year’s breakout star Chad Green. Those two have been outstanding, but the rest of the pen was not performing to the back of their baseball cards.

In April, Dellin Betances was not good at all and looked like the same Betances who disappeared down the stretch of last season due to a lack of control. Veteran set-up man David Robertson also struggled with an ERA over 4.50 through late May and Adam Warren and Tommy Kahnle both missed extended time with injuries.

Despite their troubles, the Yankees still found ways to win at a rapid pace, but that was due in large part to their powerhouse offense and some solid starting pitching. Now over the past couple weeks, the rotation has scuffled a bit and lost key members to injuries while the bullpen has regrouped to become the major strength we all thought they would be.

With all the talent throughout this pen, it was only a matter of time before they figured it out and started to click on all cylinders. Even without Kahnle, who was recently sent down to Triple-A to work on regaining his velocity, these Yankee relievers have all seemed to hit their stride at the same time.

Their combined ERA this month is a major league leading 0.35 and over their last 18.1 innings they haven’t given up a run. Even before this current stretch of dominance, the pen was still piling up a ton of strikeouts and that hasn’t stopped as they now lead baseball with 289 K’s as a group.

Chapman has been a beast and Betances has regained his All-Star form

Every great bullpen starts with its closer and Aroldis Chapman has been the best in baseball this season. He’s 17 of 18 in save opportunities with a 1.30 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 15.6 K’s per 9 innings. This weekend it was reported that he’s been dealing with left knee tendonitis for the past few weeks, which makes his performance of late all the more impressive. Fortunately, Chapman says it’s something he believes he could pitch through so you just hope the pain doesn’t get worse and that this doesn’t become a bigger issue as the season progresses.

If it does, the Yankees can feel confident knowing that Betances has rebounded to a point where he could slide right into that closer role. He’s been unhittable of late and is throwing the ball as well as he ever has, according to himself. In his last 11 innings, he’s only given up one run and he’s struck out 18.

For Dellin the key has always been locating his fastball and lately he’s had pinpoint control of his four-seam at 99 to 100 mph. He’s throwing it more than his curveball and he’s getting ahead with it early in counts while also using it to put hitters away. When he can combine his heater at that kind of velocity with his wipeout breaking ball he’s as nasty as any reliever in baseball.

Unsung Heroes

Betances and Chapman are the two top guns in this pen when they’re on their game, but in front of them, the Yankees still have a collection of arms that any team would love to have at the back end of their pen. It’s no surprise to see the veteran Roberston bounce back from his slow start, but it’s also been encouraging to see unsung guys like Jonathan Holder and A.J Cole really make an impact.

Holder has been a revelation in middle relief after an early-season demotion and Cole has been excellent as the long man since the Yanks acquired him from the Nationals back on April 23rd. Holder hasn’t given up an earned run since he was called back up in late April and Cole has pitched to an ERA of 0.82 since his move to the Bronx.

Both have earned the trust of skipper Aaron Boone, especially when you consider how they each kept their roster spot after Warren and Kahnle both returned from the DL. It’s really an embarrassment of riches when this bullpen is at full strength and it will only get better if Kahnle can somehow bounce back and pitch like he did a season ago.

You just hope that the starting rotation gets figured out and that Boone isn’t forced to overuse his pen because of the starters inability to pitch deep into games outside of Luis Severino. The Yankees have so many quality arms in their pen that Boone can go to them on most nights for three to four innings, but it’s important to keep everyone fresh as we get closer to the postseason.