The Yankees have been dealing with starting rotation issues for essentially all of the 2023 season.
It started when Frankie Montas had to undergo shoulder surgery in February. Then prized free agent Carlos Rodon was forced to start the year on the injured list (IL) with a forearm strain, and Luis Severino followed him to the IL not long after with a lat strain.
With three-fifths of the starting rotation currently on the IL, the Yankees had to turn to former prospects Domingo Germán and Clarke Schmidt and current prospect Jhonny Brito to fill the holes. The results have been a mixed bag.
While Germán has held his own with a 3.86 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 33.3% strikeout rate in three starts, both Brito and Schmidt have been hit around.
Coming into Tuesday night’s start, Schmidt has an 8.44 ERA, 1.97 WHIP, and 20.8% strikeout rate. He’s also giving up 2.53 home runs per nine innings and a .333 batting average against. Brito has not been much better with a 6.57 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, and a minuscule 17.4% strikeout rate across three starts.
It’s entirely possible that they are not destined to be pieces in an MLB rotation. Schmidt was successful in a bullpen role last year and is perhaps a better fit there given his issues with finding a fastball that doesn’t get hit hard, and Brito was just a fringe prospect for the Yankees until a strong spring thrust him into the rotation mix.
While Rodon and Severino are both working their way back from the IL, there are also two names within the Yankees minor league organization that are pushing for a chance to prove their worth at the major league level.
The first is Clayton Beeter, a 24-year-old right-hander at Double-A who has posted a 0.82 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and 31.8% strikeout rate in his first two starts of the year.
A 6’2″ and 220-pound prospect from Texas Tech, Beeter was a second-round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2020 draft after concerns about his medical history and command pushed him out of the first round. However, he always had good raw stuff with a mid-90’s fastball and hard-biting gyro slider that he can throw for strikes or strikeouts. He also has a plus curveball that breaks north-south and a lightly-used change-up that has also graded out as an above-average pitch.
Since coming to the Yankees in the Joey Gallo deal last year, Beeter has been a force, pitching 36.1 innings while posting a 1.73 ERA and 1.02 WHIP with a 37.2% K% strikeout rate.
The concerns for Beeter center around his longevity. He only averaged between 3-4 innings per start with the Yankees in the second half of 2022; however, the Yankees are allowing him to stretch out this season, and he rewarded them with the longest outing of his career his last time out.
Clayton Beeter shattered his career high innings pitching tonight firing 6.2 scoreless innings. He struck out 7 and walked 2. Beeter impressed me with his ability to throw strikes and get plenty of whiffs + called strikes.
pic.twitter.com/47s5HFsrH7— Chris Clegg (@RotoClegg) April 15, 2023
If Beeter can string together another few outings of five or more innings, he could announce to the Yankees that he’s ready for a chance to outproduce Schmidt and Brito.
A longer shot to get a chance this early is Beeter’s Somerset teammate Will Warren.
The 23-year-old had a rough last start and has a 4.82 ERA and 1.39 WHIP through two starts, but also has 13 strikeouts to just four walks in 9.1 innings.
Despite the inconsistent start, the 2021 eighth-round pick has become a name to watch among Yankees prospects after pitching to a 3.91 ERA and 1.25 WHIP in 129 innings last year with 125 strikeouts to 42 walks. He is currently the 9th-ranked prospect in the Yankees system according to MLB Pipeline and the 7th-ranked prospect according to Baseball America.
Warren was impressive in the spring, running his fastball up to 97-98, which was over three mph faster than last year. He also added a cutter so that he could attack hitters up in the zone, which complements his best pitch, a sweeping slider that he uses for strikes and also to put hitters away.
Given that he’s a year younger than Beeter and is in his first taste at Double-A, it’s more likely that Warren is an option for the Yankees around the middle of the season. However, given the questions surrounding the team’s starting rotation in the early part of 2023, it’s nice to know there is more talent pushing for their chance at the big league level.
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