Results be damned, Max Fried was healthy and pitched five-plus frames on Saturday, which is really all we want to see from this team’s current top pitcher. Wrapping up the weekend, the Yankees will play a splt-sqquad doubleheader on Sunday, starting with a matchup against a familiar face on an unfamiliar team. One of the newest Tigers, Framber Valdez, will face the Yankees, defending the colors of a different American League contender.
Detroit took a page right out of the Yankees’ recent playbook,
signing an ace-caliber lefty who may not have the gaudy strikeout totals of some of his peers but gets the job done. Much like with Fried and the Yankees—although in his case, maybe just on a temporary basis—Valdez joins as the No. 2, serving behind the great Tarik Skubal, set to hit the open market at the end of this season.
Moving over to the Yankees side, Luis Gil will start the first of these two games against a different club. Perhaps more than nearly every other pitcher, Gil’s K/BB numbers are followed with extreme interest across spring, and so far, they show terrific promise. We all know how much Gil relies on strikeouts to perform at a high level and how a high walk rate has gotten him in trouble in the past. Through his first 11.1 innings of Grapefruit League action, Gil’s 15 strikeouts and 3 walks are right where you’d want them.
Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham, and Giancarlo Stanton are the standout names on the Yankees lineup that’ll face Valdez; keep an eye on Randal Grichuk, whose skill set against left-handers is the primary reason the Yankees went after him in the first place.
How to watch
Location: George M Steinbrenner Field — Tampa, FL
First pitch: 1:05 pm ET
TV broadcast: YES, Detroit SportsNet
Radio broadcast: WFAN 660 AM (NYY) | WXYT 1270 (DET)
Online stream: Gotham Sports App, MLB.tv
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