The Yankees’ win last night had numerous playersplayers contribute heavily, starting with Gerrit Cole pitching six strong innings of one-run ball, and lineup contributions from Heliot Ramos, Ben Rice, Jose Caballero, Luis Garcia Jr., Spencer Jones, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. However, what might go unnoticed is the impact left-handed pitcher Ryan Yarbrough had in this game last evening.
Yarbrough came into the game in the seventh inning, proceeded to pitch the last three innings, and not only got the save and preserved the Yankees‘ five-run lead 6-1, but also retired all nine batters he faced in a row, four of them resulting in strikeouts. It was arguably Yarbrough’s best outing out of the bullpen this season; a guy the Yankees had pitch out of the back end of the rotation for several months last year due to injury has now adopted more of a long man role in the Yankees’ bullpen this season. The Yankees bullpen has been relied on heavily, especially its best arms, in super close games, which has been happening quite frequently, on a nearly nightly occurrence for weeks on end.
Yarbrough Played Big Role Last Night For This Reason
Yarbrough being able to give guys like David Bednar, Brent Headrick, and Paul Blackburn, the Yankees’ big three high-leverage arms, a rest last night after pitching consecutive days out of the Yankees’ bullpen, will go a long way in the Yankees’ efforts to preserve their bullpen and keep players healthy. Yarbrough simply did his job and did it miraculously well on that front. In the season, Yarbrough is 2-1 with a 3.35 ERA in 48.1 innings pitched, with 36 strikeouts and a 1.18 WHIP. Over his last seven games, Yarbrough has been rather dominant out of the Yankees pen with a 0.77 ERA in 11.2 innings pitched and nine strikeouts and a 1.11 WHIP in that span.
The Yankees re-signed Ryan Yarbrough this past offseason; he was actually their first move last winter, bringing him back on a one-year $2.5 million deal, reported Jorge Castillo of ESPN at the time. Yarbrough came up in 2018 as a back end/bullpen arm in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, where he’d obviously face the Yankees quite often as an AL East divisional rival. In his career against the Yankees, Yarbrough has posted an impressive 6-3 record with a 2.04 ERA in 15 games against them, according to StatMuse.
Yarbrough Relies On Pitch Movement Not Velocity
Yarbrough has an interesting pitching repertoire. He doesn’t rely heavily on velocity to generate swing and miss against hitters. Yarbrough’s average fastball is just 87.3 mph, which ranks in the bottom one percentile amongst pitchers this season, according to Baseball Savant. However, Yarbrough ranks in the 96th and 100th percentiles for barrel percentage and hard hit percentage, according to Baseball Savant. This means that despite not throwing very hard, Yarbrough is still able to generate weak contact and some swing and miss.
Yarbrough throws an array of pitches to achieve this, including a cutter, sweeper, changeup, four-seamer, and sinker, per Baseball Savant. From the Yankees’ standpoint, they are glad to see a pitcher they once struggled heavily against having this success on their side, while also being a key piece to helping out the bullpen, as he largely showed last night in the series sweep against the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees now face Toronto this weekend at Yankee Stadium.
Ryan Yarbrough Saves More Than The Game For The Yankees Last Night