German becoming ace of wounded Yankee staff

Domingo German pitched another absolute gem on Sunday afternoon, going 6 2/3 strong with only four hits and one earned run given up.  German looked sharp in each inning and used both his nasty two seam fastball and breaking balls en route to a seven strikeout performance.

At the beginning of the season German was looked at as the weak link of a shoddy Yankee rotation.  With Luis Severino and C.C. Sabathia on the mend, German looked to establish himself as a regular in the Yankees rotation.  Now with James Paxton on the IL with knee inflamation, German is looking more and more to be the ace of the staff.

German’s numbers are eye-popping so far even though the season is still young.  He’s 6-1 with a 2.35 ERA.  He’s only walked 12 batters seven starts, a vast improvement from his past, where his biggest issue was controlling his pitches and keeping them in the strike zone.

German is budding with confidence each time he steps onto the mound and is brimming to pitch in each and every game.  He may not be a major innings eater, but when he’s pitching well he can easily go six innings and give the Yankees’ bullpen a rest.

Who knows how long he’ll be able to keep this up but he does remind Yankee fans of another certain star who had a rough patch.  Luis Severino was struggling mightily in 2016 and was one of the worst pitchers in baseball, posting a 3-8 record and 5.38 ERA that season.  Just two years later and he was in conversation for the Cy Young, as one of the best young pitchers in baseball.

Sometimes with pitchers who have control issues, it takes a little while to work the kinks out.  It’s not that they don’t have the stuff to dominate, it’s that they either don’t have the confidence or the control yet.  All of that comes with time and with Domingo German, the time is now.  Will German be able to keep this up?  Only time will tell, but it’s been a good ride for him so far.