Besides signing Gerrit Cole, hiring Matt Blake as the new pitching coach to replace Larry Rothschild was the best decision the New York Yankees made this offseason. In comparison to Rothschild, he offers a strong knowledge of analytics and what to add to a pitcher’s repertoire.
Cleveland Indians’ pitcher Shane Beiber credits Blake for his breakout season last year. “He was an integral part of me using my curveball more,” said the All-Star. “Matt had a lot of ideas of how to add that to my repertoire and the pitch had a lot to do with the success I had last year. He worked with me on when to throw it, how to get more spin on it and what counts it was most effective.”
Besides Beiber, Blake is credited to improving Trevor Bauer and Mike Clevinger – two pitchers who are regarded as premier in the Major Leagues.
For all the @Yankees fans coming to my page to ask me about @Blake_Matt he’s awesome. One of the smarter guys I know. Knows a lot about pitching. A lot about development. Good communicator. Etc. Really excited for him getting this opportunity and pumped to see the results.
— Trevor Bauer (?????????) (@BauerOutage) November 8, 2019
It seems that since Blake is around the age of most players, he’s able to connect and communicate with players efficiently. Since pitching is pretty much all mental, having that connection with a coach is crucial. You don’t want to be on different pages than the guy whos usually telling you what to throw and how to throw.
Blake also seems stoked about the new job and had this to say about the Yankee pitchers.
“Watching it from across the field in Cleveland, there’s a bevy of really talented pitchers — I think it’ll be interesting to get to know where they are in terms of the things they’re thinking about and the things they’re wanting to work on and improve upon.”
I am especially excited to see Blake work with Gerrit Cole. Cole is already the best pitcher in the MLB and Blake could take him, and the whole rotation, to a new level.