The Yankees’ win on Tuesday night was highlighted by home runs from Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, the continued surge of Kyle Higashioka and the best outing of the season from Corey Kluber, who finally gave the team some length.
But buried in all of those headlines was the continued dominance of Jonathan Loaisiga.
Loaisiga, who has been trying to turn his elite stuff into results for the past three seasons, pitched 1.1 shutout innings to lock down Tuesday’s 5-1 win, collecting three strikeouts while allowing just one hit and one walk, only his second free pass allowed all year.
“He’s been dominant down there,” Aaron Boone said after Tuesday’s win. “[Tuesday] was a night where he probably struggled as much as he has, and he was still really good to get us through an inning and a third.”
Loaisiga has always boasted flashy numbers on the radar gun, averaging 97 mph on his fastball, but control was an issue. His walk rate in 2018 and 2019 were above 11 percent, a mark he dropped down to seven percent last season. This year, that number is all the way down to 3.6 percent, and his hard hit percentage of 22.2 percent is in the top four percent of the league, per Statcast.
At 26 years old, Loaisiga is showing signs of finally pitching to his potential, justifying the Yankees’ continued trust that the righty would figure it out.
“He understands who he is out on the mound,” Boone said. “I think he’s challenging the strike zone a lot. The tewo seamer to go with the changeup has been a really effective mix. He’s mixing in enough breaking balls, I thought he threw a couple good breaking balls tonight for outs.”
That mix of offspeed pitches has been a revelation for Loaisiga this season. The reliever was much more reliant on his lively heater in seasons past, using his fastball 42.6 percent of the time in 2020 and 47.7 percent of the time in 2019. This year, he has thrown his fastball at a 14.3 percent clip, a drastic dropoff while he continues to up the usage on his sinker. Loaisiga never threw a sinker until 2019, less than 10 percent of the time, but now, he throws it 45.6 percent of the time, around the clip he used to throw his fastball.
“His sinker/changeup combination, and I think the confidence he’s pitching with out there in some high-leverage spots, it’s been fun to see him take this next step,” Boone said.
As a result, Loaisiga has been trusted in bigger spots this season, and for good reason. He has allowed just two runs in 14.2 innings, striking out 16 in that span, and was called upon to loack down a 2-1 win over Cleveland on Saturday when Aroldis Chapman wasn’t available out of the bullpen. Loaisiga responded by turning in 1.1 scoreless frames, not allowing a hit or a walk.
Boone said Loaisiga will continue to be used in high-leverage spots.
“Absolutely,” Boone said. “The great thing about Lo is he can give you a couple innings. If you need some big innings in the middle of the game, I’m not hesitant to do that. On nights, for example when Chapman was down the other night, to come in for a four-out save and go through the heart of Cleveland’s order in the ninth inning.”
Loaisiga is one of the many bullpen arms for the Yanks that are off to a strong start, and his surge has been a welcomed sight while the team is still down Zack Britton. But once Britton returns, Loaisiga will likely be kept in that top tier of trusted relievers like Chapman, Britton and Chad Green, especially if he continues on his current trajectory.
“I feel great about where he’s at and the confidence he’s pitching with, and he’s an important part of our bullpen,” Boone said. “There’s no question.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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