Yankees: Stephen Tarpley could have an important role to play in 2019

Left-handed reliever Stephen Tarpley was a surprise contributor for the Yankees down the stretch in 2018 and figures to have an important role to play out of the bullpen next season.

Tarpley made his big league debut for the Yankees a season ago as a September call-up and pitched well enough to earn a spot on the postseason roster in the ALDS. During his first big league stint, Tarpley showed an ability to shut down left-handed hitters and pound the strike zone.

After his impressive September Tarpley should have the opportunity to start next season in the big leagues and build off what he accomplished. The Yankees haven’t had many lefty specialists in their pen in recent years, but Tarpley can fill that role.

In only 9 innings last September Tarpley pitched to a 3.00 ERA with 13 strikeouts, allowing six hits. Against left-handed hitters, he thrived holding them to a .067 OPP BA, an ERA of 0.00 and one hit. Against righties, however, Tarpley struggled as is the case with most lefty specialists. They hit .263 off him and his ERA was a robust 6.23. As he gains more experience Tarpley could develop into a reliever trusted to face all hitters, but he’ll have to prove himself first.

Right now the Yankees bullpen as currently constructed is still one of the best in baseball on paper, but if they fail to re-sign David Robertson or Zach Britton they could see a dip in production. That is unless someone like Tarpley takes that next step along with guys like Domingo German and Jonathan Holder who will look to build off his very impressive 2018 season. It would also help a lot if Tommy Kahnle can regain his form from 2017 when he was one of the best setup men in all of baseball.

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Fortunately, they still have the eighth and ninth innings locked down with Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman. Unless an injury occurs they should continue to be the best back-end pairing in baseball. Chad Green will also return after posting another strong campaign in 2018, but he’ll need to add another pitch to his repertoire because he became a bit too predictable last season throwing his fastball too much.

The good news is that the offseason is still far from over and Yankees GM Brian Cashman is going to make a strong effort to bring back D-Rob/ Britton or add a new arm like Adam Ottavino. Even though the starting rotation should be much improved next season the bullpen is still the Yankees greatest strength and they’ll be relied upon to carry the load just as they have in recent years.

There’s no such thing as too many options when it comes to the bullpen and for Tarpley, there is a clear role for him to fill next season. As I said the Yankees pen isn’t a finished product as of today but it would go a long way if he can assert himself and become a reliable option for Aaron Boone to call upon next season.