Oct 15, 2019; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees relief pitcher Chad Green (57) reacts after pitching against the Houston Astros during the fifth inning of game three of the 2019 ALCS playoff baseball series at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Yankees have been on an absolute tear, with 7 straight wins to start the season 8-1. This type of start was last seen by the Yankees in 2003 and 1998, with both teams winning the AL Pennant. With how great the hitting has been with a team 133 wRC+,.489 SLG%, and 20 home runs which leads all teams outside of the Marlins, but the Marlins have only played 3 games. While the offense has been electric with Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Gio Urshela, and Luke Voit hitting well, the pitching has been solid as well. The Yankees are 9th in team ERA and 7th in team SIERA. This is headlined by good starts from Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery, but one guy doesn’t get enough credit.
Out of the bullpen the Yankees have had Chad Green and hit 5.2 innings of 0 runs and 9 strikeouts with a 0.35 WHIP.
People saw Chad Green’s 2019 as a disappointment and his 2.18 ERA from 2017-2018 spiked to a 4.17 in 2019. I think you could chalk that up to his HR/9 spiking up to 1.30 and his Batting Average on Balls in Play going up to .346 from .278 over the 2 year dominant stretch. The thing is that he was unlucky in 2019, as shown by a 3.04 Skill-Interactive Earned Run Average (SIERA) and a 3.56 xFIP. He was still throwing hard and collecting strikeouts, and it looks like he’s back to standard Chad Green form, and it’s shown to not just be a lucky stint as he has a 1.12 SIERA so far.
He’s been dominant out of the bullpen and I think this success will translate for the rest of the year.
Chad Green’s fastball is as fast and spins as tight as always. He always was a fastball first pitcher who uses his velocity to blow by hitters. This doesn’t mean that he doesn’t need a nasty breaking ball though. Chad Green has always had a good slider, but his slider has seen an increase in drop, as according to Statcast the average drop in his slider went form 33.5 in 2019 to 46.2 in 2020. The spike in his drop can be attributed to his RPM going up nearly by 300 from 2019 to 2020. This combination of a filthy slider that’s tight and spins a lot with a 96 MPH fastball on the black will be unhittable.
Chad Green is poised to bounceback and be elite in 2020, and he’ll be a big part of the Yankees 2020 run in October.
This post was published on 2020-08-05 12:30
