It has been a struggle in recent weeks for New York Yankees starting pitcher Marcus Stroman, so the team has decided to push his start back a few more days to allow him to work on his mechanics.
Yankees’ Marcus Stroman has his start pushed back to work on pitching mechanics
Yankees manager Aaron Boone announced the shift in the rotation prior to Wednesday’s doubleheader against the Los Angeles Angels. He said that Stroman’s start will be pushed back to Sunday and Nestor Cortes will start Thursday instead.
“Doing some things mechanically. I thought he had a really good bullpen yesterday. Just trying not to have too many guys bumped a day,” Boone said (h/t SNY). “Just felt like there would be some benefit in having [Stroman] having a couple of bullpens to work through some things.”
Boone added that Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón are still in line to make their starts when they start a three-game series against the Texas Rangers at Yankee Stadium. Cole is another guy who recently had a start pushed back, as general body fatigue and a stomach virus caused the Yankees to delay his start by a couple of days.
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After a strong first two months of the season, Stroman has demonstrated signs of fatigue over the past month. In his last start against the Toronto Blue Jays, he lasted just 2.2 innings and allowed seven earned runs and eight hits. His fastball velocity is averaged around 89 MPH, a precipitous drop-off from his 92 MPH average last season. In his last seven starts, he has pitched to a 6.82 ERA and recorded just one quality start in that span.
With the rotation already missing Clarke Schmidt, the Yankees have needed Stroman to deliver positive results on the mound, and they will need him even more during the final stretch and into the postseason. The hope is that the extra rest given to him will allow him to recover from his last start and make the necessary adjustments to turn in a much better outing on Sunday.
