How good is the Yankees pitching rotation, and can it be better?
2. Masahiro Tanaka
The Japanese hurler is currently on the DL after managing to strain both hamstrings on the bases during the Subway Series. Even so, his 13 starts on the season give us plenty of pitching to evaluate.
Tanaka has a pretty impressive 7-2 record on the year, but that significantly overstates how he’s pitched. His ERA of 4.58 is average at best. That’s a pretty fair description of his performance this season.
Anyone who’s watched Tanaka pitch this season can easily identify what his biggest issue is. He gives up far too many home runs to be an above-average starter. Tanaka’s average of giving up 2 home runs per nine innings is the worst on the rotation by a full .5. If he wants to improve his performance he has to work on keeping the ball inside the park.
His stuff might not be good enough to really do that any longer. Tanaka can still get plenty of outs by hiding the ball, changing speeds and engaging in the other dark arts of major league pitching. What he can’t do, is rare back and throw the ball past quality hitters. That puts a pretty low ceiling on his performance.
Tanaka is going to return to Boone’s rotation when he gets healthy, but he just isn’t good enough to be counted on as anything close to an ace. It’s been an uninspiring performance from the righty through his 13 starts. The Yankees need him to be better once he returns to full health.