Yankees: Will Justus Sheffield pitch in the starting rotation this season?

With Masahiro Tanaka out for up to a month and Jordan Montgomery out for the season, the Yankees are clearly going to need some help in their starting rotation. If a potential trade isn’t in the cards, could top pitching prospect Justus Sheffield be the next best option?

First, let me start and say that Sheffield won’t be the starter who replaces Tanaka in the rotation this Friday. It sounds like the Yankees will go with right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga, who is another intriguing young prospect currently with Double-A Trenton. Unlike Sheffield, Loaisiga has never pitched at Triple-A and he doesn’t have as high of a ceiling. However, he is a year older than the 22-year old lefty and on the 40-man roster so the front office must feel like he is a better option as a short-term replacement.

That makes sense because when the Yankees do call up Sheffield the hope is that he’ll be here to stay for good. They likely will only call him up once the front office truly believes his development at the minor league level is complete. Now whether that happens this season remains to be seen, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on as Sheffield continues to improve with Triple-A Scranton.

After starting the season at Double-A, where he pitched to a solid 2.25 ERA in five starts, Sheffield was promoted to Triple-A. So far with the Rail Raiders, his numbers have been just as good. In six starts he is 1-2 with a 2.96 ERA with a WHIP of 1.13. The most impressive stat is the .167 opponent batting average which is an indication of the kind of plus stuff he possesses.

He has a very good fastball that ranges from 94-97 mph, with a wipeout slider and an improving changeup. His repertoire is probably good enough to get big league hitters out right now, however, it takes more than just stuff to be a consistent starting pitcher at the highest level.

One thing he needs to work on is cutting down on the walks so he could pitch deeper into games. So far with Scranton, Sheffield is walking 4.9 batters per 9 innings. That’s too much and because of that, it’s rare to see him go anywhere past five innings in his starts. His most recent start was his best of the season with six innings of shutout ball and eight strikeouts but that was only the first time he went at least six innings at Triple-A.

If he’s going to be successful in the big leagues he needs to be more economical with his pitches because one thing you can’t do against major league hitters is nibble around the strike zone. For a guy like Sheffield, he needs to be in attack mode and trust that if he can locate his stuff he will get easy outs.

Sheffield could be this year’s version of Luis Severino in 2015

Sheffield’s situation right now reminds me a lot of current Yankees ace Luis Severino when he debuted in the big leagues back in August of 2015. The circumstances were similar because that Yankee team was also in the midst of the playoff race and in need of some starting pitching. Instead of making a trade around the deadline they opted to go with their top prospect in the 21-year old Sevy. Although the Yanks failed to win that year’s AL Wild Card Game he proved they made the right decision with his performance.

More from Yankees News

• Yankees chose worst possible player to ring in New Year on 2023 team calendar
• Yankees make upside play, sign former Rangers top prospect outfielder
• Michael Kay’s Anthony Volpe story will get Yankees fans amped for Opening Day
• No, Yankees should not acquire Trevor Bauer for 2023
• Yankees’ Marwin González replaces Red Sox LF in Japan in logical next step

Some might forget that before Sevy really struggled in 2016 he was excellent in 2015 and had the Yankees won that wild card game he probably would’ve been their game one starter in the ALDS.

He was 5-3 with a 2.89 ERA in 62.1 innings pitched. His arrival came days after the trade deadline so when he was called up he was essentially their big deadline move.

I could see that happening with Sheffield later this summer around the same time Sevy made his debut if he continues to improve and deliver starts like he did his last time out. He’s the Yankees top pitching prospect for a reason so if he’s as good as advertised he would have to be their best internal option to give their starting staff a necessary boost.

Next: Why the Yankee bullpen is back to being the best in baseball

Regardless of how the rest of this season plays out, the Yankees have high hopes for Sheffield and there’s no doubt that his future is very bright. That’s one of the reasons he’s considered an untouchable prospect in trade talks. They don’t want to trade him and with the lack of front-line starters expected to be available this deadline the Yanks may be better off just rolling with Sheffield for their final playoff push.