10 pitchers who have surprised in 2015
By Jason Evans
Nathan Eovaldi
When you pitch for the New York Yankees, the spotlight is going to be on you a little more than other teams. There are always high expectations for the club, and in order for the Yankees to get where they want to go. Back to the postseason.
The Yankees mad a controversial deal with Marlins over the winter, trading a useful utility player, especially on a old team in Martin Prado and a useful swingman in David Phelps for Garrett Jones to backup Mark Teixeira at first and young starter Nathan Eovaldi.
Eovaldi led the league in hits allowed last season. Not exactly the best endorsement of a pitcher coming to the Yankees. They saw something in his power arm and he rewarded them until being out for basically the rest of the season.
Eovaldi at times this season was the Yankees ace. CC Sabathia isn’t what he used to be. Michael Pineda was injured off and on. Eovaldi went 14-3 and leads the American League in win percentage.
Once he and pitching coach Larry Rothschild refined Eovaldi’s splitter, you could see a ton of improvement in Eovaldi. He didn’t lose a game in July and August and had a ERA in both months below 4.00. For a guy who throws as hard as he does, you’ll never see him get a ton of strikeouts. It doesn’t mean he cant be an effective pitcher and the Yankees may have found something in him.