Deivi Garcia was strong Sunday, but his competition for the final Yankees rotation spot, Domingo German, was even stronger on Monday. German went four scoreless innings, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out six, and needed to finish his day in the bullpen after tossing just 46 pitches.
“He was really good again. Maybe a little inconsistent with the breaking ball early, but he dialed it in and got nasty with that,” manager Aaron Boone said after the game. “The changeup was a great pitch for him, and his ability to throw it behind in the count – he got a double play ball on a 1-0 count I believe. The fastball was there with good movement and velocity. He looked really polished – that’s a really good pitcher right there who can do a lot of good things on the mound.”
Outside of a few up-and-down winter ball outings this offseason, German hasn’t pitched in an official MLB-sanctioned game since September 2019. However, he looks like he never missed a minute, now having tossed nine scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts in three spring starts.
“We haven’t had eyes on him or seen him a lot, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect, but the lack of rust has been impressive. I maybe expected a little more rust and haven’t seen that,” Boone said. “Really, since his first bullpen, he has been really sharp every step of the way, and he’s shown us a really good, experienced pitcher with a good three-pitch mix.”
“Yeah, I think the key has been my physical preparation coming into camp. It was very important for me to be prepared, and able to focus and be able to make adjustments in the game,” German said through team interpreter Marlon Abreu. “During the offseason I worked really hard on my mechanics, and I think that has allowed me to be more consistent and land better.”
German believes his mechanics are better now than they were even in 2019, when he won 18 games and posted a 4.03 ERA before a domestic violence suspension sidelined him through last season. But, even though he’s pitching like an ace while competing for a back-end rotation spot, he’s not focused on anything but his performance, and is prepared to pitch even more than the 143 innings he tallied in 2019.
“I see myself as a normal baseball player, not an ace. I just want to keep doing my job and try to win a rotation spot, it doesn’t matter which one it is,” German said. “The Yankees haven’t told me about any specific innings number, but I can tell you that I did prep myself to pitch more than 150.”
No matter which pitcher breaks camp with the Yankees as the fifth starter, German is happy with what he’s shown so far this spring.
“When you work so hard and coaches are seeing differences in you and things are working well, you feel excited about the changes you made,” German said. “It’s just a matter of continuing with that, being consistent, and feeling excited about the results.”
Both he and Garcia have made the decision a hard one so far – but as Boone cautions, two weeks is still a long time.
“We have a couple weeks to go and we’ll decide. We’ll have a lot of conversations about it, and try to make the best decision in the immediate – but again, we’re going to lean on a lot of these guys throughout the year, and the decision for April 1 won’t be the final decision,” Boone said. “A lot can happen in two weeks, but if we’re in a position where someone who pitched well has to start down (at the alternate site), that’s just the product of depth and, knock on wood, being healthy. It’s critical to remain focused and strong, because we’re going to need everyone.”
And yes, despite the thought that the Yankees would like to see German win the job and Garcia start in the minors to control workload, Boone made it clear that anything is possible, except perhaps putting the loser of the battle into a bullpen role.
“Do I think Deivi has room for development? Of course – but that doesn’t mean it can’t come at the big league level,” Boone said of Garcia. “Do I think he can be a good major-league pitcher right now? Yes. He’s certainly shown he has good stuff and all the pitches you need to be successful, and he has the kind of makeup and moxie on the mound you love to see too.”
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