Tommy Kahnle was one of the New York Yankees‘ most reliable relievers in 2019. He bounced back nicely after a disappointing 2018 and would like to continue his success in 2020.
The 30-year-old only appeared in 24 games in 2018, battling injuries and struggles. He didn’t pitch well enough to maintain a major league spot, so he spent a lot of the season in AAA.
2019 was a lot better for the Latham, New York native. He had a 3-2 record with a 3.67 ERA. He punched out 88 in 61.1 innings and a 1.060 WHIP to go with it.
Kahnle got better and better as the 2019 season progressed. He began the year in low leverage situations and had a lot of success. He quickly became a high-leverage reliever and continued to pitch well. The Yankees could always count on Kahnle to get the job done.
2020 Expectations:
The Yankees need a lot out of Kahnle in 2020.
He’s such an essential piece to the bullpen and is one of the two guys the team will go to when they need big outs in the middle innings. The other is Chad Green. Green bounced back from a poor start to 2019 and pieced together a good year.
Kahnle throws hard, and the team needs him to bring the heat. He does have good stuff but isn’t the same without an upper-90s fastball. When he struggled in 2018, his velocity was way down.
Another great thing that Kahnle can do is occasionally pitch two innings. Not many relievers these days can do that, so it’s important that the Yankees can turn to him for that when needed.
Tommy Kahnle is a vital piece to the Yankee bullpen that the team needs firing on all cylinders in 2020.