Yankees: Chance Adams set to make his big league debut Saturday

Luis Cessa was supposed to start Saturday’s game against the Red Sox but after he pitched in Thursday’s 15-7 loss the Yankees will call-up rookie Chance Adams to make his big league debut.

New addition J.A. Happ was originally scheduled to start Saturday’s game until he was diagnosed with hand, foot and mouth disease and placed on the 10-day DL. Happ should only miss one start but it could not have come at a worse time. In Thursday night’s disaster of a loss, the Yankees tried to stay away from using Cessa but a terrible performance from Jonathan Holder combined with questionable decision making from Aaron Boone left him with no choice but go to Cessa.

Holder has been so good all season but he’s hitting a big wall of late. He faced seven batters last night without recording an out and gave up six earned runs in what was one of the worst relief outings you’ll ever see. The Yankees went into the inning with a 4-2 lead when Boone decided to remove CC Sabathia in favor of Holder.

CC struggled over three innings throwing 77 pitches but with a two-run lead, Boone could’ve kept him in to go batter by batter to start the fourth. Instead, he went with Holder and inexcusably stuck with him for far too long. Holder quickly gave up the lead four batters into his outing and only then did Boone decide to get Chad Green warmed up with the Yankees trailing 6-4.

By the time Green was ready to come in Holder had let the game get out of hand, giving up two more runs and left with the Red Sox up 8-4 with a man on second an no one out. Green wasn’t much better and gave up two more runs before he was removed for Cessa to get the final out of the inning. Cessa went on the pitch four innings and gave up four earned in what had to be the team’s most embarrassing loss of the season.

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I’ve been a supporter of Boone all season long, but last night his decision making or lack there of was his worst of the season in a game the team needed to win. Not only did he let the game get out of hand by leaving in Holder but he also used the one guy the Yankees could not afford to pitch in Cessa.

It’s not that Cessa was the best option to start on Saturday but he made the most sense since he’s on the 40-man roster and he was going to be rested. Top prospect Justus Sheffield likely would’ve been the preferred option after Cessa had he not pitched on Thursday as well but now the Yankees will roll with Adams and add him to the 40-man roster.

I can’t think of a tougher assignment than pitching at Fenway in the middle of a pennant race for your big league debut but that’s the task the rookie will be dealt with. Nonetheless, it should be exciting to see one of the Yankees top pitching prospects get his first opportunity to pitch in the big leagues.

After posting an excellent season with Triple-A Scranton in 2017 Adams has struggled with the Rail Raiders this season. He was one of the organization’s top five prospects coming into the season according to MLB Pipeline but he’s dropped down to 13th this season. He has an ERA of 4.50 with a WHIP of 1.32 but he’s coming off his best start of the season his last time out when he went 7.1 IP, striking out 8 and only allowing two hits.

Adams has been waiting a long time to get this opportunity and the Yankees can only hope that the moment won’t be too big for him. The pressure will be on and the team needs to get at least four to five innings out of the 23-year-old right-hander. Hopefully, tonight their ace Luis Severino can bounce back and pitch deep into the game so Adams can have a well-rested pen backing him Saturday afternoon.

If not the Yankees could be in big trouble and their chances at winning the division title might continue to slip away.