Throwback Ryan Yarbrough has become a Yankees rotation savior with tweaked pitch
Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.As an AL East veteran, Ryan Yarbrough has pitched against the Yankees enough for them to know how much trouble he can give lineups.But what the left-hander, often described by Aaron Boone as a “throwback,” has now done for them in five starts since moving into the rotation may even be better than they could have hoped for.Armed with an improved changeup — thanks in part to a former Yankees minor league pitching coach — multiple arm slots and a wide-ranging arsenal that ranges from 67.7-90.9 mph, Yarbrough has been a savior at the back end of the Yankees rotation and will try to keep it going on Saturday against the Red Sox.“It’s a lot of fun [catching him],” Austin Wells said Friday.
“I feel like you get to appreciate the art of being able to call a game.The way he’s able to throw pitches in the entire zone and fill it up and still get the swing and miss and chase that guys that throw 100 do, I think it’s arguably at times more fun to do something like that with a guy like that.”Yarbrough entered Saturday with a 2.08 ERA in five starts with 24 strikeouts in 26 innings since he entered the rotation.To get there, the process began in spring training with the Blue Jays.
Their bullpen coach, Graham Johnson, previously served as the pitching coach at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, so he speaks the same language and has a similar approach as the Yankees’ pitching group.Johnson began working with Yarbrough on tweaking his changeup, and he got promising results with it before Yarbrough triggered the opt out of his minor league deal and then signed a $2 million contract with the Yankees three days before Opening Day.At the time, Yarbrough offered bullpen depth but with the potential to swing into the rotation if needed, and it did not take long for that to be the case.“We obviously know Graham really well ...