Kluber looking forward to his Yankees debut
NEW YORK — The minute Corey Kluber records the first out of the top of the second inning onSaturday, hewill havesurpassedhis entire innings total from 2020.
The new Yankees right hand er is hoping for more than that on Saturday and this season, of course.
The former two-time American League Cy Young Award winner with Cleveland will face the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium in the Yankees’ second game of the season.
“There’s that anticipation for every first start of the season,” the stone-faced Kluber said on Thursday before the Yankees lost their season opener to the Blue Jays, 3-2, in 10 innings. “Everystart, honestly, throughoutthe year, I think there’s that level of anticipation the days building uptoit. I’ m not sure if[ Saturday] will be anymore or the same as usual. But I’m going to fall back on things I know work for me. If it does get to a point where that adrenaline gets going a little too much, finding ways to calm myself down. Trying to make it as normalaspossible like I have in the past.”
It’s Kluber’s past that the Yankees are investing $11 million in this season. Hisdistant past—when he was one of the best pitcher sin baseball from 2014-18 — not his more recent body of work.
In 2019, Kluber threw only 35 ⅔ innings for Cleveland before having his right forearm fractured by a 102-mph line drive on May 1. That was 34 ⅓ more than he threw for Texas in 2020, when a shoulder muscle tear ended his season after one inning.
Kluber, who will turn 35 on April 10, rehab bed under the watchful eye of guru Eric Cressey, whoalso happens to be the Yankees’ director of player health and performance.
That obviously gave the Yankees a leg up when it came to signing Kluber in the hopes that he can recapture his Cy Young form and become a co-ace with Gerrit Cole, or at least a solid No. 2.
The dream scenario for the Yankees has Cole, Kluber, Luis Severino, Jameson Taillon and Domingo German becoming a fearsome fivesome once Severino returns at midseason from Tommy John surgery, with Jordan Montgomery and Dei vi Garcia pitching in, too.
Theworst-case scenario has Cole standing alone as health issues return for Kluber, Severino and Tail lon, German shows the rust after more than a year off the mound after a domestic violence suspension, and Montgomery and Garcia regress, as young pitchers often do.
None of that will be on K lube r’ s mind when he climbs the Yankee Stadium mound on Saturday.
“It’s a great stadium to cometo as a visitor,” he said. “The facilities are great and stuff. But it’s a different feeling coming here having it be your home ballpark. The history of the organization andstuff, to put onthat jersey means something, for sure. It’s something I’m looking forward to going out there, being able to pitch. It’s always a good atmosphere to play in. I think even though it’s limited fans, that’ll still apply.”
Yes, the Yankees again will allow 10,850 fans into the stadium for Saturday’s game. Aaron Judge talked about howgreat it was to have fans in the stadium for the opener, even though the Yankees went 0- for -9 with runners in scoring position, left 10runnersonbaseand basically handed the game to Toronto with their lack of clutch hitting.