Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
In a season already plagued by injuries, consistency from healthy players is key. For the New York Yankees’ pitching staff, this consistency is embodied by Japanese-born pitcher Hiroki Kuroda.
The established ace of the team, C.C. Sabathia, has seemed shaky in his first six starts. Though he is going deep into games, he is giving up hits and runs and the velocity on his fastball is topping out at about 91 mph.
Sabathia’s inauspicious start, coupled with Ivan Nova’s trip to the DL and even Andy Pettitte’s most recent disastrous game, indicates that someone in the starting rotation needs to take control and try to guarantee the Yankees a win ever five days.
Kuroda has been that starter this April.
With six starts in the month of April, the right-hander has gone 4-1, with a 2.25 ERA, 30 strikeouts and has given up just two home runs, compared to Sabathia’s six. Kuroda’s start to the season was not without its’ worries, however. In his season debut against Boston, he was hit in the hand by a comebacker and had to leave the game in the second inning.
Many feared that he would be yet another player condemned to the insurmountable disabled list, but he made his next start and followed that up with a complete-game shutout against Baltimore.
After Kuroda’s most recent start against the Houston Astros in which he pitched seven shutout innings to lead the team to a victory the night after they were blown out, it is clear that Kuroda can be the man in the rotation the team can depend on for consistent quality starts.
Even if Kuroda doesn’t have his best stuff on the mound, he can grind out zeroes on the scoreboard. The best thing about having an ace is that even if he isn’t pitching a gem, he can work out of jams to give his team the best chance to get a lead. With runners on base, Kuroda is not afraid to use his slider and his sinker, as well as his high fastball. When it’s working, as it was last night, he can fool even the best hitters out there.
Kuroda pitched well for the Yankees last season, winning 16 games, and it looked like a good move when the Yankees decided to re-sign him as long as he could replicate his success. So far, the Yankees have won five of the six games in which he has started, their only loss coming in the game where he had to leave early.
Kuroda is becoming the pitcher that Yankees fans had hoped Sabathia could be this year: he is reliable, he can go deep into games, and if he isn’t throwing his best on the mound, he can still give the team a solid performance and a chance to win the game with some offense.
If he can continue this trend through May and June, he will hopefully give the Yankees the edge they need stay in the race while they are still reeling from injury. April has been a tough month for the Yankees with all the players on the DL and roster changes, and it is imperative that there be some consistency, especially on the mound.
And this month, it has been Kuroda, not Sabathia, who led the pitching staff.
