New York Yankees: CC Sabathia Is Relevant Again

The New York Yankees have to be surprised at the resurgence of C.C. Sabathia, who has become relevant again as the team’s ace.

Gone are the days of New York Yankees starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia’s 96 mph fastball. Gone are the days of his 200 strikeouts. And gone are any chances of ever winning 20 games in a season.

But with the way Sabathia is pitching in 2016, that’s quite alright. On Thursday night, the big left-hander gutted out 116 pitches through six innings of one-run ball. Sabathia excelled in this performance, like many other this year, because he has in a sense, become a finesse pitcher.

Using a combination consisting of his most reliable pitch, the slider, which he has thrown a total of 378 times this season and the fastball, which has been thrown 245 times and tops out at 91 mph. He has mixed in a sinker 223 times, and of course his out pitch, the changeup, on 204 instances.

All this has led to some very impressive statistics. Sabathia’s 0.82 ERA is lowest in MLB since the beginning of May, and he has the 2nd-best overall ERA in the American League (2.20) behind only the Cleveland Indians’ Danny Salazar (2.19). In his last seven starts, Sabathia is 4-2, 0.82 ERA, 44.0 IP, 41 K, .187 BAA.

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If the All-Star break came today, an argument could be made for Sabathia joining the likes of Carlos Beltran as the Yankees contingent headed to San Diego. With two, possibly three starts remaining before the announcement of the summer classic rosters, it will be interesting to see if the 35-year-old can continue his renaissance. Heck, you want to get really wild, if the season mysteriously ended today, we could have the Comeback Player of the Year on our hands!

As it was out of Spring Training, Sabathia barely made the starting rotation, beating out Ivan Nova for the fifth and final spot. A lot of this probably had to do less with performance and more with the fact Sabathia is making $25 million this season, and $25 million next, as long as he doesn’t end this campaign on the disabled list. Or, if he were to spend a total of 45 days on the disabled list, a clause would kick in allowing the Yankees to buy him out of the final year on his contract for a cool $5 million.

But where Sabathia stands in regards to next year’s club is something the Yankees shouldn’t worry themselves with just yet. Because as their most consistent pitcher to date, the Yankees need him to continually eat up innings, adding to the 65 he’s already claimed, while only giving up 56 hits, and walking 27.

Even though the Yankees cannot seem to stay above the .500 mark, they are still only six games out of first place in the AL East, and a minuscule three and a half games out of a wild-card berth. A lot of this can be attributed to the former ace of the 2009 World Series team.

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For all the nay-sayers, just waiting for Sabathia to return to the immense struggles he was plagued with since 2013, you may have to find something else to do with your time. Because the man seems to have put a degenerative knee condition and alcohol abuse issues in his rear view mirror. The Yankees stuck with Sabathia when he needed them the most, and luckily for the baseball club, he is doing everything he can repay the favor.

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