Despite an awful start to the 2019 season, New York Yankees reliever Chad Green was able to bounce back and put together a nice season.
Through April, the 28-year-old lefty from Greenville, South Carolina, had a 16.43 ERA. He went down to AAA for a while and would bounce back in a big way, lowering his ERA to 4.17 by the end of the season. While in Scranton, he worked on some off-speed stuff and worked on fastball location. His cutter is his signature pitch, and a pitch that he had trouble throwing early on.
Green finished the season 4-4 with 98 strikeouts in 69 innings pitched. He often was an opener for the Yankees and threw well there. His ERA was 3.72 in games he opened.
Green didn’t allow any runs in the 2019 ALDS against the Twins but allowed five runs in 4.2 innings against the Astros. He has a 4.74 ERA over 13 career postseason appearances, skewed by one awful appearance in 2017. Over his three postseasons, Green has been one of the Yankees’ most reliable relievers.
2020 Expectations
The expectation is that Chad Green will pitch as he did after the middle of May and beyond. Seeing how his ERA dropped over time was quite impressive, and it showed off the dominance he achieved.
Green will continue to be a high leverage middle-reliever and occasional opener. Although he thrived in that role, the Yankees only want to put him there when there are injuries, but hopefully, that won’t be something to worry about in 2020.
And of course, the Yankees need him to pitch well in the postseason again. He always looks so calm out there, and that helps him stay in control of the game.
Hopefully, Chad Green can avoid a bad start like in 2019 and have a career year in 2020.