EOVALDI EVOLVING
Adjustments have turned Yankees pitcher into a star
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Nathan Eovaldi is quietly becoming a star. In many ways, he is the antiMichael Pineda. He has made the adjustments that needed to be made to make the most of his golden arm.
Here’s how he developed the split-fingered fastball.
“It’s made me a different pitcher,” Eovaldi told The Post after the Yankees’ 2-1 win over the Rays on Sunday at Tropicana Field.
This all started two years ago in spring training, when pitching coach Larry Rothschild came up with the idea of teaching Eovaldi the forkball. Not so Eovaldi could use the forkball. He wanted the right-hander to learn the forkball grip, which is more exaggerated than the split-fingered fastball grip, so that when he did shift Eovaldi to the splitter, it would be an easier transition. It worked. Seventeen months later, all that is paying off as Eovaldi moved to 6-2 with a 3.71 ERA. All he did Sunday was beat Jake Odorizzi, who did not allow a hit until there was one out in the seventh inning.
That hit was a rocket home run by Starlin Castro, who was moved into the 3-spot in the batting order, a two-run blast that lifted Eovaldi and the Yankees to victory, helping the Bombers escape with a 2-1 series victory.
Over his last seven starts, Eovaldi is 6-0 with a 2.72 ERA. In three straight starts, he has gone six-plus innings and yielded one run or fewer for the first time in his career. Over his last 12 road starts, he is 10-1, the most wins in the AL over that span and second in the majors only to the unbeatable Jake Arrieta (14-0 in 17 starts).
Again, it all started with a forkball grip two spring trainings ago.
“We went forkball to separate his fingers,” Rothschild said. “We actually wanted to get him a little bit uncomfortable so when we went back to the narrower split grip, the true split, it was more comfortable. He stuck with it.
“That gives him a pitch he can throw off his fastball, and he’s got arm speed with it. He doesn’t have to manipulate the baseball at all. He just throws through.”
Nothing changes, except the action on the baseball.
There still is work to be done. Sometimes Eovaldi doesn’t come straight through with his delivery. He turns and that causes the pitch to stay up. That’s what happened on Evan Longoria’s RBI single to right in the third.
“If he got it down, that would have been a ground ball to second,” Rothschild said.
Michael Pineda has yet to make those kinds of adjustments. The big righty remains in the rotation, but his next start better be a good one or else Pineda will lose his spot.
In the sixth inning, Eovaldi escaped a bases-loaded jam, getting Curt Casali to pop to first. Eovaldi allowed six hits and one run, walked two, struck out seven and threw one wild pitch. He’s become a different pitcher. “I feel like I have command of my offspeed pitches where I can get out of situations now, as opposed to last year where I had to rely heavily on my fastball,” Eovaldi said. “And I feel I can throw that split in any count.”
Eovaldi mentally accepted he had to become more varied as a pitcher.
“When I developed the split, it gave me three pitches — the fastball, slider and split — and instead of relying on the curveball, I was able to use that just as a first-pitch strike, plus it gave me three different velocity of pitches in fastball, split and slider. All that changes the way I attack the hitters.”
In the fifth inning, Longoria flied to the right-field wall with two runners on base.
“I thought he hit that one out, but fortunately for me, it stayed in the park,” Eovaldi said.
He made it through the sixth, then the perfect bullpen came through as Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman overmatched the Rays, getting seven of the last nine outs via strikeout.
“That’s a lot of fun to watch,” Eovaldi said.
So is the new Nathan Eovaldi.