Extra arms needed when MLB resumes
TAMPA — The Yankees will likely have to carry an extra two pitchers if MLB goes with the ramped-up schedule when they eventually start the season after the global coronavirus pandemic shutdown. Potentially facing doubleheaders and no days off to get as many of the games back that were lost when the league postponed Opening Day, the stress could be heavy on the pitching staff.
“Obviously it kind of depends on how much the starters get built up in spring training. I think the easy place to go would be, you know, in that 15 range,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said. “I think I heard 28-29 players (on the roster) being talked about for opening the season back up. Now if you have 15 guys it gives you some depth, obviously, if there are extrainning games and things like that starts to get more complicated.”
The concern for Blake is not just building pitchers back up, but doing so efficiently and safely. Pitchers have followed decades of experience in a sixweek build up during a traditional spring training, now forcing them into an abbreviated schedule comes with the risk of getting them hurt.
“Anytime you stop and then idle guys, and then try and ramp them back up, the concern would be is that if you do it too quickly, and they’re not ready, they don’t have enough of a base of stress to kind of fall back on,” Blake said. “That’s when you might get to that threshold and kind of end up with some stress on the arm it’s not prepared for. So I think we’re trying to be as proactive in monitoring their situation as possible. So that way when we do get a timeline of what we need to get ramped up for, we can safely bring them up to speed without guessing where they’re at.”
One reason the Yankees hired Blake was that his philosophy was in-line with their new director of Sports Performance. Blake worked with Eric Cressey at his private training company in Massachusetts and maintaining the health and well-being of pitchers is something that he and the Yankees are focused on. Last season, the Yankees set a record with 30 players going on the injured list, including losing Luis Severino and Dellin Betances for most of the season.
And Blake is being proactive with the pitchers now as well.
“There’s this huge other piece of the stress equation that involves how is their body moving, are they getting weightlifting in, are they getting the proper rest and proper soft tissue care,” Blake said. “So I think that is a component of checking in with (Director of Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation Michael) Schuck and those guys on what they’re talking to them.
“Cressey, obviously, is a resource and then (Major League Strength and Conditioning Coach) Brett McCabe is still down in Tampa. He’s checking in with players, so I think we’re trying to triangulate as many opinions about where guys are at, so that we can kind of pull our resources in a certain direction that help provide guidance.”