Domingo German clearly made the most of his time at the Yankees alternate site.
After being sent down following two straight rough outings to open the season, the righty returned nearly two weeks later and has looked like his 2019 self, most recently a dominant seven shutout innings in a win against the Rangers on Thursday afternoon.
With that dominant performance, which included no walks and five strikeouts, German has not allowed just eight earned runs in his last 37.1 innings, dropping his season ERA down to 3.05 after allowing seven earned runs in his first seven innings to start the season.
German credits his drastic turnaround to that time at the alternate site.
“Very meaningful,” German said through his interpreter. “It means a lot, being that those first two outings were not good ones. I went to the alternate site and worked on what I needed to work on…and have been able to string together good outings.”
Five of German’s six outings since returning from the alternate site have been quality starts, while his command has allowed him to limit his walks to just six over his last six starts. Along with Corey Kluber, German represents a crucial rotation piece that has turned his season around after a rough start to help the Yanks reach their highwater mark of the season despite a depleted offense that is still waiting to break out.
But German’s two runs of support on Thursday were more than enough given how effective he was once again.
“He was terrific,” Aaron Boone said. “A couple times he did get in trouble he made some big pitches…Domingo continues to pitch really well. His mix of pitches, the command of those, the ability to throw any in any count, another really strong outing by him.”
Among that mix of pitches for German is his changeup, which he has ticked up in usage since coming back from the alternate site. On Thursday, he threw his changeup more than any other pitch, which helped generate more swings and misses on his fastball. Of his 20 fastballs thrown (compared to 26 changeups), nearly half resulted in swings and misses. His changeup usage is up to 25.5 percent this season, six percent higher than in 2019, as he continues to turn it into an efficient weapon in any count.
“He uses it right and left, but any time he gets behind in the count, he’s so unpredictable because he truly has really good command of all his pitches,” Boone said. “It’s hard to gear up for anything whether you’re ahead in the count or behind in the count…he uses it to get back in the count, he uses it as a putaway pitch at times, but it really complements the other stuff really well.”
German is looking like the dominant pitcher he was in spring training, which led to him being part of the Opening Day rotation. His early outings suggested the rust of not pitching a meaningful inning since 2019 was a factor, but if there was any lingering rust, it was shaken off at the alternate site, and German has become an efficient weapon in the rotation along with Kluber and Gerrit Cole.
“It’s one of those things where you have to keep believing in yourself and never lose confidence, keep working hard on your craft and show you belong here and that you have the ability,” German said. “Show everybody you can get through it, and if you keep working hard you can make the necessary adjustments.”
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