Monday, Michael Pineda made his Yankees debut. The good news was that he didn’t allow a run in two innings, generating a pair of strikeouts. The bad news was this:
FanGraphs: Michael Pineda’s Reduced Velocity
Scouts yesterday had #Yankees' Pineda at 88-91 - "and there was some effort to get to 91," one said. Pineda averaged 94.7 last year. #MLB
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 6, 2012
Adding on, Keith Law said that, a year ago, on March 7, 2011, Pineda was throwing 93-96. It's just two innings - the first two innings - but has Michael Pineda given the Yankees a reason to be concerned?
Not so, says Dave Cameron at FanGraphs:
Bottom line – this just isn’t really something to be overly concerned with. He only threw two innings in an exhibition game, and did so after being strongly encouraged to work on his change-up during Spring Training. For Pineda, there was no incentive to come out throwing 95, and he’s already shown that he prefers to work at lower velocities early in games.
There’s a lot more than just that paragraph in the link, so you should read the link. It’ll take you like three minutes. Maybe four. I know you’re not doing anything important since you’re already reading this.
Here’s what to make of Michael Pineda’s reduced velocity: it’s something to watch going forward. But it’s not yet something to be worried about going forward. Even though Pineda reportedly topped out at 92, Joe Girardi didn’t express any concern, and the truth is that there’s a long way to go. There’s a lot more spring, and Pineda could gain velocity over the course. He didn’t need to come out blazing Monday. It might even be better that he didn’t.
If it gets to be the regular season and Pineda isn’t throwing like he used to throw, that’ll be a thing. That’s when the Yankees will want to figure out what’s going on. It isn’t the regular season yet, and it isn’t particularly close. Patience.
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