Yankees: Luis Cessa may rightfully claim a rotation spot

With Luis Severino out until May and C.C. Sabathia slated to begin the regular season on the IL, the Yankees have two rotation spots to hand out. And as of today, Luis Cessa’s spring performance makes him deserving of one.

During Luis Cessa’s three on-again off-again season’s with the Yankees, you could count on one hand the number of times the right-hander has looked the part of a legit major league pitcher.

Since 2016, the Mexico-native has pitched 151 innings (career-high 70.1 in ’16) across 43 appearances — 19 of which have been starts.

In that span, the now 26-year-old has gone 5-11 with a 4.71 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, .257 BAA and 115:44 K:BB ratio.

Despite having an express pass to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Cessa has come into camp this spring and produced like never before.

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On Thursday against the Blue Jays, Cessa tossed four scoreless frames while allowing just two hits, one walk and striking out three in his third start and fourth overall appearance. Cessa needed only nine pitches to get through the first two innings (68 pitches in total).

Though the Yankees tied the Jays 1-1 on the afternoon, Cessa lowered his ERA to 0.69, WHIP to 0.615 and 13:1 K:BB ratio in 13 innings — leading manager Aaron Boone to sing Cessa’s praises to Newsday.

"“Cessa was really good again,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I thought his two-seam fastball today was really good, which is really good to see. Another exciting step forward for him.”"

With the breaking news that Luis Severino will now be out of action until at least May 1, the Yankees will lean on any and all effective pitchers in their stable. And so far this spring, Cessa’s been the best of the bunch.

Naturally, a lot can change once the games move away from the Grapefruit League; however, it’s tough not to be at least a little intrigued by Cessa’s dominance this March.

In his previous start against the Orioles, Cessa allowed just one base runner through four innings of work. Perhaps being out of minor league options has motivated Cessa to the point of raising his game.

Cessa has even flashed some of his newfound confidence to the media, telling Pete Caldera of NorthJersey.com he knows he’s pitched well this spring.

"“My fastball command is key,’’ Cessa said of continuing to pitch aggressively in the strike zone."

The fact that his likely fellow competitors for the two available slots, Domingo German (2.35 ERA over 7.2 innings) and top pitching prospect Jonathan Loaisiga (10.00 ERA in nine innings) have them headed in different directions, it would take a submarining of consecutive outings by Cessa not to make the rotation.

Either that or the potential signings of free agent pitchers Dallas Keuchel or Gio Gonzalez. But for now, the job is Cessa’s to lose.

With Luis Severino out until May and C.C. Sabathia slated to begin the regular season on the IL, the Yankees have two rotation spots to hand out. And as of today, Luis Cessa’s spring performance makes him deserving of one.

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