New York Yankees: C.C. Sabathia Pitching Like an Ace Again

By Nikhil Potpally | Jun 18, 2016

Jun 16, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia (52) delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

After another strong outing, New York Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia continues his tremendous 2016 season and has unofficially established himself as the ace of the rotation once again.

When the New York Yankees re-signed C.C. Sabathia to a new 5-year/$122M contract deal following the 2011 season, many people expected his performance to deteriorate towards the final years of the contract. After all, Sabathia had piled up close to 200 innings each year ever since his 2001 MLB debut at age 20. Sabathia was always known as a hard thrower and maybe his huge workload had finally caught up to him.

Sabathia was never a finesse-type pitcher at any point in his career. Now at age 35, Sabathia is no longer blowing away hitters with his fastball and has found a new way to get batters out. While he may not be the same force who single-handily carried the Milwaukee Brewers to the playoffs in 2008, C.C. has quietly re-established himself as the ace of the 2015 Yankees.

When the Yankees first signed C.C. prior to the 2009 season, they expected him to win around 20 games each year and be similar to the workhorse he was in Milwaukee. Sabathia did not disappoint.

A World Series title in 2009 and consecutive years of winning 19, 21, 19, and 15 games proved that he was the ace worth the big money. However, a mediocre 14-13 season in 2013 and 4.78 ERA raised concerns about his age, weight, and health. 2014 and 2015 were not great seasons either, and C.C. finished those years with 5.28 and 4.73 ERAs respectively.

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A minor bounce back towards the end of 2015, where Sabathia had a great stretch of starts, ended abruptly when he checked himself into rehab to address his alcohol problems. It looked like he was clearly on the back-end of his career and it appeared that the team was ready to eat the rest of the contract.

Thankfully, Sabathia successfully came back from rehab and has been pitching like the man the Yankees are paying $25M in 2016. His 5-4 record may not look amazing, but his 2.20 ERA is remarkable, especially when you account for his lowered velocity. His win-loss record could easily be much better, but the Yankees’ offense has not been the same.

Sabathia doesn’t throw in the high 90’s anymore, and has quickly developed into a finesse-type pitcher. The once-dangerous fastball-slider combo has been replaced by a sinker-cutter mix. His fastball can sometimes be seen at 93 MPH, but he can record outs without it. He’s not a Bartolo Colon yet, but if he can continue controlling his pitches like he has so far, then he still has many quality years left in him.

When Sabathia was struggling over the past few years, he was constantly getting bombarded by home runs. He allowed 28 home runs in both 2013 and 2015, but has fixed that issue in 2016 and has only allowed two long balls in 11 games thus far.

An All-Star selection for Sabathia this year would not be surprising, and is well-deserved. He has pitched so well this year, that his name may also be thrown in trade rumors if the Yankees fall out of playoff contention. Just last year, it would’ve been unthinkable that there would be interest in trading for a declining Sabathia and his large contract, but his recent surge has dispelled that laughter.

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The anchor of the pitching staff is back, and is equally as effective as he once was. Many people say that Sabathia finally learned how to pitch. No longer relying on speed, he now depends on pinpoint control.

Whatever the case may be, the Yankees hope that he can keep it up because this is all a bonus. Sabathia was worth every penny of that monster contract early on in his Yankee career, and you can look at this resurgence as icing on the cake (or in his case, Captain Crunch).

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