Despite not actually playing a game yesterday, there was still a flurry of activity around the Yankees, with catcher Austin Wells moved to the IL and recent Triple-A optionee J.C. Escarra brought back up as his replacement. The intrigue continues in today’s contest with the Red Sox, as we’ll see if Cam Schlittler is able to make some adjustments after two pretty underwhelming starts.
On Tuesday against Cleveland, Cam didn’t make it out of the fifth inning for the first time all season, tagged for four
earned runs and just three strikeouts in 4.1 innings. The previous start down in Kansas City was fine from a line perspective—six innings and one earned run against—but his stuff, particularly that all-important four-seam fastball, has looked a little off for a bit. I am not going to use the I-word because boy this team is going through it, so let’s just all hope that the problem was mechanical or maybe some kind of focus issue.
I do think—and may delve into this further in a full post—Cam’s fastball-heavy, in-zone approach is a little less effective against contact-heavy teams, and both KC and the Guardians are in the bottom third in baseball in strikeout rate. Two occurrences raises an eyebrow, three is a trend, and the Red Sox are almost exactly the major-league median in strikeout rate. If Cam’s back to his regular, best-in-the-AL self today, maybe that says something about this pet theory. To the rest of the staff, I hold dibs on this as a research note.
Meanwhile, free agent signee Ranger Suárez goes for the Red Sox, and while they might not be ecstatic about their five-year, $130 million signing so far, he hasn’t been a dud. A 3.38 ERA and 3.13 FIP places him comfortably in the very good but not elite tier of starters, although his 2-3 record and average of less than 5.1 innings a start kinda makes you want a little more from the guy brought in to be your No. 2.
Ali Sánchez makes his Yankee debut behind the plate today, Amed Rosario hits cleanup, and Spencer Jones is once again on the bench with the lefty Suárez on the bump.
We are blessed with a matinee, and although it’s been a while since the indeterminable 17-hour long Sunday Night Baseball affairs, I’m still glad we don’t have the possibility of one today.
How to watch
Location: Yankee Stadium — The Bronx, NY
First pitch: 1:35 pm ET
TV broadcast: YES (NYY), NESN (BOS)
Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY), WEEI 93.7, WESX 1230 AM (SP), WCCM 1490 AM (SP) (BOS)
Online stream: MLB.tv (out-of-market only)
For updates, follow us on BlueSky, Twitter, and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.
Join the conversation!
Sign up for a user account and get:
- Fewer ads
- Create community posts
- Comment on articles, community posts
- Rec comments, community posts
- New, improved notifications system!
