It turns out top prospect Justus Sheffield might not be the next minor league pitcher in line to join the Yankees’ rotation, as Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports in his latest video that the club nearly promoted 23-year-old Jonathan Loaisiga for a spot start during a doubleheader, until rain altered their schedule. Rosenthal notes that Loaisiga had never pitched above Low-A ball until this season. It seems like he’s met little resistance this year, though, as he’s posted a 3.13 ERA this season while striking out 10.96 batters per nine against an equally impressive 1.17 walks per nine. Of course, plenty could change by the next time the Yankees need another starter. It’s certainly worth noting that promoting Sheffield last Monday might have improved his chances of making the Super Two cut, had he impressed enough to stick in the rotation from there on out. There will certainly be some entertaining suspense surrounding this situation from here forward.
Other items fresh off the East coast…
- Orioles prospect Hunter Harvey was scratched from his most recent Double-A start due to a shoulder injury, Dan Connoly of baltimorebaseball.com reports. Harvey’s dealt with plenty of injury issues in his career already, and this latest case (described as “posterior shoulder instability) has left him on an unknown timetable to return to the rotation. Harvey also had Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow in 2016. Even when on the field, he hasn’t been particularly impressive this year. His 5.57 ERA across 32 1/3 innings on the season is an eyesore.
- Rookie Mike Soroka is set to come off the DL and start Wednesday for the Braves, reports David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. O’Brien adds that manager Brian Snitker plans to hold Soroka to a pitch count of 85-90. Soroka is widely considered to be one of the best right-handed pitching prospects in the game, and he’s backed that up by pitching to a 2.77 FIP in three starts this season while striking out more than a batter per inning.
- Injury news isn’t looking so good for a division rival, however, as the Mets’ Yoenis Cespedes reportedly left his rehab start tonight with tightness in his right quad. He’ll be re-evaluated tomorrow, but even a small setback is certainly discouraging; Cespedes has been riddled with injuries since signing a four-year, $110MM pact with New York following the 2016 season.
NYY needs to find a SP to replace Tanaka for 1-2 weeks.
One good thing from Tanaka’s hamstring strain 10 day DL? Ronald Torreyes was called up after being unfairly demoted to AAA hitting.339 (21-for-62) (7 SS, 8 2B, 9 3B, 0 1B, 0 OF) and 6 XBH (6 doubles)
Don’t knock out Jonathan Loaisiga because he’s in AA. Other than crushing AA, he’s on NYY 40 man roster. Hope it’s him. That would be a bold and aggressive move. But I’m for it. Let’s see what these kids are made of. – 2018, the dude has 54K and 4 walks. Going back to last season, he has 7K, and 7 walks in 75.2 IP.
Jonathan Loaisiga is your man. Don’t trade the fam.
he has 87K* and 7 walks in 75.2 IP.
Im really happy that Torreyes is back. Seems like a loveable guy and a great clubhouse presence.
Do you think Jonathan Lasagna is ready for an MLB start though? Seems a bit early for him
I think he is ready for a spot start but not ready to stick. He just doesn’t have the innings due to injuries. He is probably a year or two away from being a full-time major league starter. He can probably only pitch like 100-120 innings this year. But, he’s good for a few spot starts especially since he is already on the 40-man roster.
Really interested to see him pitch then. I wonder if the Yankees will eventually flip him some big trade too
It will probably be David Hale, their current use em and throws away starter. They have the option of opening a 40 man spot by putting Monty on the 60 day DL.
Kinda interested who you would’ve demoted over Torreyes if you were the Yankees
NYY announced Jonathan Loaisiga as the SP to replace Tanaka.
Sheffield is a reliever,possibly a good one. I don’t care what his scouting reports say, he has 2 pitches, a fastball and slider. If you watch video you clearly see that. Don’t know anything about Loasigia but his k to bb looks promising.
I wouldn’t go that far. Every pitching prospect, even the most elite ones, are potential relievers, but I think that Sheffield, and I have watched enough of him, has the stuff to be a good major league starter. And, I’m not as high on him as others are. He is heavy on his two best pitches, as many successful major leaguers are, but his changeup isn’t terrible (not great either) and is good enough to keep hitters timing off. I don’t know if he’ll stick as a starter or reliever, but neither do you. He’s a very good prospect to have though.
Typical Cespedes…the problem is that he enjoys the DL life too much.
Couple weeks of golf therapy and he will be right as rain
lololol, good one.. MYR
Josh Rogers is the man the Yanks should promote to fill in for Tanaka.
For a spot start, he will do, but he isn’t on the 40-man roster and I doubt they want to put him on that at this point. So, probably not.
His last two outings haven’t been flash
Wait…. so walks per 9 do matter?