Yankees welcome back Tanaka, but he’ll need time to find his groove

A month after being placed on the DL, Masahiro Tanaka returned to take on the Orioles on Tuesday night. On a strict 70-pitch count, Masa pitch 4.1 innings, allowing six hits and three runs while walking two and striking out five.

Masahiro Tanaka has not been great this year for the Yankees; although he does sport a 7-2 record, his 4.68 ERA is exceptionally high for a former All-Star — and Tanaka has already given up more home runs this season (17) than in his rookie year (15), in which that All-Star appearance came.

Nevertheless, the Yanks and their fans should be somewhat eager for his return being that the club has had some problems with the rotation of late.

With the absence of Tanaka, the Yankees have been forced to look elsewhere for starting pitchers. Relying on Domingo German more than planned, who, although has had some flashes of brilliance, still needs time to mature into a reliable starter.

German has impressed with his ability to strikeout batters; at a rate of over 10 per nine innings. However, a recurring theme in baseball, high strikeout numbers correlate with high home runs numbers.

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After pitching 74.2 innings, German has given up 14 long balls. Second most of Yankee pitchers, behind only Tanaka, German needs to learn to keep the ball in the park.

The Yankees also looked towards Nicaraguan born Jonathan Loaisiga as Tanaka’s interim replacement and pitched fairly well in limited time.

But take all of his success with a grain of salt, Loaisiga has only pitched 18 innings in four games. In those four appearances, Loaisiga has shown his ability to strikeout batters; 21. He’s only allowed one home run as well; however, his major flaw seems to be his excessive amount of baserunners.

And it shows in his 1.278 WHIP which leaves the possibility of any inning to become a big one for the opposing team.

The Yankees have even gone as far as giving a start to Luis Cessa against the Orioles on Monday night, who actually pitched pretty well; six shutout innings.

Cessa’s major league career can be summed up as a utility pitcher. Starting games if necessary, pitching out of the bullpen, being demoted to the minors only to be recalled when injuries arise. Cessa is an undervalued piece of a baseball team.

But as undervalued as he is, Cessa is not a great pitcher. A career ERA of 4.53 to go along with low strikeout totals and lots of baserunners — runs are bound to cross the plate.

Besides increased pitching ability, Tanaka brings another element to the Yankees’ rotation; stamina. The Yankees rotation is not regarded as anywhere near elite, forcing Yankee manager Aaron Boone to call for relievers more often than not.

Especially with these temporary starters in the rotation; they do not give the Yanks a ton of innings, which is why we have eaten through the bullpen of late. With Tanaka back in the fold, we hope to see more than five innings from the hard thrower each night on the mound.

This will give the Yankees’ star-studded bullpen a break some nights. This could come in handy come Sonny Gray’s starts, as Gray has been anything but special. Without Jordan Montgomery for the foreseeable future, Tanaka’s return becomes even more vital.

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Hopefully, Tanaka can return to All-Star form in the second half of the season but expect some good outings and some not so great from Masahiro Tanaka.