Yankees Pitcher Bryan Mitchell a Wild Card in September
After missing most of the season with a fractured toe, it’s not clear how much the New York Yankees can expect out of starting pitcher Bryan Mitchell in September.
The New York Yankees received an unexpected boost from starting pitcher Bryan Mitchell in his first big league appearance of the season Wednesday night. The 25-year-old righty gave his club five scoreless frames, giving up four hits and two walks while striking out two.
Mitchell picked up the win in New York’s 2-0 victory over the first place Toronto Blue Jays, completing a three game sweep of their division rival for the first time since June of 2014. It was the Yankees fourth straight win, bringing them within 2.5 games of a playoff spot.
2016 was a long, slow climb back to the big leagues for Mitchell, after a crushing injury suffered right at the end of spring training. When speaking to Chad Jennings of the Journal News after Wednesday’s contest, he sounded very glad to be back in the Bronx:
After the whole season, what I went through, tonight’s very rewarding. I’m very happy with it. … I believe I belong here regardless. It’s been my goal all year to get back here, and to come back right now, this exciting time, arguably the most important series of the year, I’m just glad we got a win.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi also stressed to reporters how hard Mitchell has worked this season to get to this point:
Spending all those days down in Florida rehabbing, throwing with his leg up on a chair for weeks upon weeks to try to keep his arm in shape, looking forward to this day. And for him to come out and do it this time of year, in a game that’s this important, it really had to mean a lot to him.
It is impossible to overstate how much the Yankees needed a performance like this from Mitchell. After losing starting pitchers Chad Green and Nathan Eovaldi for the year, the team has been scrambling to cobble together a rotation.
The jury is still out on Mitchell, but between his strong showing this spring and the two dominant starts in Triple-A after coming off of the disabled list, there are definitely reasons to think this outing wasn’t a fluke.
Obviously durability will be the main concern going forward. He had only managed 21 professional innings this year before Wednesday’s start. Fans will just have to hold their breath that he can stay healthy for the next month (or hopefully longer).
Mitchell has always had nasty stuff, the trick has been harnessing it. He was very effective mixing and locating all four of his pitches Wednesday and may be ready to take a big step forward.
With this performance, Mitchell has presumably earned himself at least one more start. At the moment, he’s lined up to take the mound Monday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. If he continues to pitch like this, it would be a tremendous boon for a club desperately in need of quality pitching.
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