Mid-Season Report Card: Michael Pineda
Grade: C+
The
definition of inconsistency, Michael Pineda was hoping to silence his former
critics and put it together before his first chance at free agency. Big Mike
did not have to fight for his spot in the starting rotation like some of his
teammates had to and actually looked like he was going to have his best season
yet out of the gate, but after his recent stretch of struggles, he is currently
one of the Yankees most unreliable starters.
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| Photo Credit: Paul Bereswell | NY Post |
Michael
Pineda started the season hot and looked as if he had finally put it all
together. He was pitching like an All-Star and had an ERA of 3.32 as the calendar flipped to June. Like most of the Yankees’ team, June brought Pineda struggles, and he
pitched poorly during that span allowing opponents to hit .312 against him. He
allowed almost as many hits in June as he did in April and May combined, and
had an ERA of 5.35 for the month. All in all, Pineda’s inconsistency has him at
an 8-4 record with a mediocre 4.39 ERA. His strikeout to walk ratio remains
solid, but he is allowing a ton of hits and home runs, which is the source of
his recent struggles.
Second-Half Expectations
During
the Yankees’ summer slide, their pitching has been the team's biggest weakness, and
Pineda will need to step up, if the Yankees want to contend. At this point,
Pineda would likely be the odd man out of a playoff rotation, and he hasn’t
showed any signs of improving in July. Pineda will need to work on his fastball
location and off-speed sharpness in the second-half of the season. When his
slider is flat and his fastball is left up in the strike zone, he is prone to
the home run, and it is one of his Achilles heels on the mound. If Pineda can
fix this, he can once again be extremely effective, however with improvement,
there is, historically, a hard falling back down to Earth for Pineda.
Conclusion
Inconsistency
has been the definition of Pineda’s career in pinstripes, and 2017 has been the
same story. He is an extremely unpredictable pitcher, so it is very difficult
to accurately project how the rest of his season will fare. There is the possibility
that he puts together an extremely impressive stretch in July or August, but
with that comes the chance that he pitches poorly for four or five consecutive
starts. When Pineda is on, he is easily one of the better pitchers in the
league, and he has a large amount to prove to not only the Yankees, but the rest of
Major League Baseball in the second-half of 2017.
Article by: Ryan Thoms
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