TORONTO — J.C. Escarra was the only Yankee who had seen it. He was the only one who knew how difficult it was to face that split-fingered pitch from the highest release point in baseball.
On Aug. 21, playing for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, Escarra faced the Buffalo Bisons’ Trey Yesavage and struck out twice. None of his teammates had faced Yesavage, who made his MLB debut on Sept. 15. Escarra spoke in the Yankees’ hitters meeting prior to Yesavage’s Game 2 gem.
“I just let the team know what I saw,” Escarra told SNY after the 13-7 loss to the Blue Jays that put the Yanks in an 0-2 series hole. “I think with him, you take out the arm angle [and] it’s nothing we haven’t seen before, you know? But you throw in the height [6-foot-4] and the angle that he throws from, that is what gives the deception that plays off the splitter.
“As guys get more comfortable against that arm angle, I think we’ll do better.”
We bring this up not to review Game 2 but to light a path for the Yankees to take this series. In order to win, they’ll have to once again deal with Yesavage and Game 1 winner Kevin Gausman. In those losses, the team picked up a few insights on how to be more successful next time.
Carlos Rodon must beat the Jays on Tuesday in New York to extend the season. Cam Schlittler needs to do the same on Wednesday. Let’s cut right to the potential game that will be necessary for the Yanks’ season to progress past this week.
In Game 5 in Toronto on Friday, Max Fried would likely face some combination of a rested Gausman and Yesavage (Gausman would be on regular rest on Thursday, an off day; Yesavage would on Friday).
If facing Gausman as a starter, the Yankees’ adjustment will be straightforward. They should swap Ben Rice at first base for Paul Goldschmidt. Manager Aaron Boone started Rice in Game 1 because Rice earned it by becoming an elite MLB hitter this year. But Rice struggled against Gausman’s splitter, a tough pitch for a left-handed hitter.
Goldschmidt is 10-for-22 lifetime against Gausman, with a .636 slugging percentage. And as one scout put it, “Goldy is good against soft” — like the splitter.
The solution for Yesavage — like Escarra suggested — is experience. Not only was he facing the Yankees for the first time on Saturday, but the team’s hitters were uniquely unable to prepare for him.
The Yanks are one of many teams to use a Trajekt Arc pitching machine, which uses artificial intelligence tools to mimic the pitches and mechanics of opponents. This is particularly useful against unfamiliar pitchers — and particularly used against an uncommonly high release point.
The Yankees clinched the Wild Card Series against Boston late on Thursday, then flew to Boston for a workout day on Friday. The Trajekt is too big to travel, and home teams do not make their machines available to visitors. There was no time to practice against the Trajekt version of Yesavage.
When I noted this on Twitter during the game, the reporter Ben Nicholson-Smith of SportsNet in Toronto noted in a quote tweet that “this was part of the reason why it made sense for the Blue Jays to start Yesavage at home, and start the more experienced Shane Bieber @ NYY.”
Kyle Boddy, the founder of the influential Driveline Baseball pitching company, added, “This sounds like an excuse given the box score, but it’s a very real training tool for the best organizations. Still, Trajekt can’t perfectly mimic extreme release points – possibly including Yesavage (ex: has real trouble with Chris Sale).”
As one Yankee put it after the game, “Trajekt is objectively helpful, period.”
The Yankees were not looking to make excuses or cite the lack of Trajekt as the reason for their loss. This was my thought, not theirs. But it does speak to their chances of faring better against Yesavage on Friday, if they earn the chance.
As the Yankees’ postgame clubhouse was about to close on Sunday, I asked Giancarlo Stanton if the hitters would be more prepared for a second shot at Yesavage in particular because of the unique arm angle.
“Yes,” Stanton said without hesitation.
Then he offered a light admonishment of my premise. “That would be looking ahead,” Stanton said. “We’ve still got to win Tuesday first and get there.”
He was right, of course. But the road to the ALCS likely now goes through Gausman and Yesavage again.
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