Masahiro Tanaka made his season debut for the New York Yankees on Monday, but got the loss in the team's home opener against the Toronto Blue Jays. Reliever Dellin Betances has yet to make his debut, but is struggling with his velocity.
Tanaka's potential velocity decrease as the year progresses is one thing. The right-hander suffered a partially torn UCL and said he was changing his pitching style because "it is not the wisest to ask for velocity from me this year," he told Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com.
He looked good in spring training after posting a 3.07 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in four starts (14 2/3 innings), but that was when he averaged 3 2/3 innings per start. On Monday he had a bigger task on his hands as he attempted to endure his first full start since last September. Once he reached the third inning, the 26-year-old ran into a bit of trouble and surrendered five runs (four earned) thanks to a two-run single from Russell Martin and a two-run homer from Edwin Encarnacion. Tanaka was pulled after the fourth inning and threw 82 pitches.
Of those 82 pitches, only six were four-seam fastballs and 20 were two-seam fastballs (or his sinker ball), according to Jesse Spector of the Sporting News. He averaged 91 mph with his four-seamer and 90 mph with his two-seamer, which leads Spector to believe the concerns regarding Tanaka's velocity are "overblown."
"Tanaka's velocity on Monday is not a sign of anything regarding his elbow," he writes. "What should be a concern is that a pitcher who had multiple walks in only five of 20 starts last year, and more than two walks only once, issued two free passes in four innings, and went to three-ball counts on four more batters."
Perhaps his elbow issues could be affecting his command more significantly than his velocity (he threw 50 of his 82 pitches for strikes), or maybe the team doesn't want him throwing so many fastballs right out of the gate. He'll need to throw more fastballs to help work the count and show batters a better mix of varying pitch speeds.
As for apparent velocity issues, Betances couldn't quite find his flame-throwing fastball during spring training. He told reporters his velocity is "nowhere near where it should be" and that he's "trying to do too much instead of trusting" what he has. The right-hander averaged 96.6 mph on his fastball in 2014 and topped out at 94 mph towards the end of spring training.
Betances did not pitch on Opening Day, but he could see some action during Wednesday's game against Toronto. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe doesn't think there's much to worry about regarding the 27-year-old.
"Cause for alarm at the reduced velocity in spring training by the big right-hander," he writes. Betances is sharing closing duties with Andrew Miller. Most veterans say their best velocity doesn't come until the bell rings, when the adrenaline starts to flow and the stands are full. Curt Schilling said he would experience 5 more miles per hour of velocity when the season started."
This could be a reason manager Joe Girardi decided not to name a closer. After last season, Betances clearly looked like the heir-apparent to Mariano Rivera in the Bronx, but now that the team has Miller they aren't in a rush to put labels on anyone. Miller has strictly been a reliever since 2012 and has notched only two saves in 133 1/3 innings, so he is by no means the clear-cut ninth-inning man.
Once Girardi has the opportunity to give each reliever their fair share of innings then he'll probably decide. And if Betances sees his velocity return and can use it successfully, there would be no reason Girardi wouldn't name him the closer and keep Miller as a lights-out setup man.