Camilo Doval's painfully obvious problem might've finally been addressed by Yankees

The most frustrating player on the New York Yankees' roster might be Camilo Doval. On paper, the 28-year-old is perfect for what the Yankees bullpen needs. The right-hander is high on velocity and strikeout stuff, both of which the rest of the relief corps sorely lacks. Yet, turning those traits into actual production has been a real challenge ever since he arrived in the Bronx.

So while getting new blood into the 'pen and searching for upgrades this summer will be a deadline priority for Brian Cashman, New York invested a lot in acquiring Doval and has him under team control through the end of 2027, meaning it would behoove them to fix him.

And the fix appears to be pretty simple. So much so that it's a wonder why it hasn't happened yet. It looks like a lot of his ills could be cured simply by eliminating his slider.

Doval has a four-pitch mix, but only in theory. He's thrown nine changeups all season. Instead, the bulk of his offerings is divided between his sinker (44%), cutter (34%), and slider (20%). The effectiveness of the slider is vastly different than the other offerings. This was through play on June 6.

As you can see, the sinker and cutter have had solid results, but the slider has gotten hit often and pounded hard, yielding a .905 slugging percentage. Eliminating it from the arsenal and pitching down in the zone more frequently to take advantage of the sinker and cutter (and their movement to limit damage and keep balls on the ground) makes a ton of sense.

Yankees have opportunity to fix Camilo Doval and avoid a trade deadline overhaul

Doval has pitched to a 5.79 ERA through June 6, but there is reason to believe he's got the goods to actually be effective. First, he rarely walks batters with a 4.6% walk rate. Second, he keeps the ball on the ground, generating grounders at a 56.3% clip. If he can cut down on the slug by eliminating the slider, things start looking up.

Either that, or he needs to keep the slider down. Over his last three outings, he's thrown a total of 16 sliders and located most of them down in the zone. The result? Zero earned runs. Progress. The four hits and one walk over 2 1/3 innings aren't exactly inspiring, but the damage was limited.

Throw in the fact that Carlos Lagrange is slated to be another high-octane arm added to the bullpen mix, plus some other intriguing pieces down in the minors (headlined by Yovanny Cruz), and the question is: do they really need to add two or three new relievers?

Cashman isn't going to shop in the Mason Miller tier of relievers, ever. Instead, he's going to set his sights a rung or two lower, which exposes the volatility of the position and puts performance at risk.

In the case of Doval, talent isn't the issue. If he can be polished up, he has all the tools to be dominant. That should give fans more solace that going out and getting a guy like Colorado Rockies reliever Antonio Senzatela, who some have suggested might be a New York trade target.

If Matt Blake and the Yankees can't fix Doval, then yes, he'll need to be replaced. But for now, they have roughly two months to make the suggested tweaks, and if they can do so, he'll have enough runway to prove that the bullpen is not quite the sore spot we've made it out to be.

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