June 6th, 2022: Rotation, Judge, King, Banuelos, Andujar, Britton, German, Bauers

It’s reunion week. The Yankees first head to Minnesota for three games against Gary Sanchez, Gio Urshela, and the Twins (Sonny Gray is on the injured list), then they return home for three games against Clint Frazier, David Robertson, and the Cubs. That’ll be fun. Beating them will be even more fun. Here are Tuesday morning’s thoughts Monday afternoon since it’s an off-day and there's no reason to wait to hit publish.

1. Weekend thoughts. I have a confession: I didn’t watch Sunday’s game. Not because I was busy or because I slept in. I’ve just reached the limit of how much effort I’m willing to put into watching baseball. I didn’t know I had a limit, but MLB found it. I’m sure there’s a free Peacock trial available, but I didn’t feel like signing up, downloading another app, and having to remember to cancel the trial. I subscribe to enough services to watch baseball already. I finally drew the line Sunday, watched the condensed game the next day instead, and that’s that. Thankfully the Yankees have no more Peacock games this year (the full September schedule isn’t out yet though). Anyway, a few thoughts on the last few games.

A rotation of aces

Jordan Montgomery is really dragging the rotation down. Two runs in 6.1 innings? That's not going to cut it with this rotation. In all seriousness, Montgomery is sporting a 3.02 ERA (3.61 FIP) in 59.2 innings, and in just about any other season we’d wonder whether he could sneak into the All-Star Game. This season he’s the No. 5 starter.

Here are the big picture numbers for the five starters, because seeing them in one place really drives home how incredible the rotation has been:

• Gerrit Cole: 2.78 ERA (2.58 FIP) in 11 starts and 64.2 IP
• Nestor Cortes: 1.50 ERA (2.49 FIP) in 10 starts and 60 IP
• Jordan Montgomery: 3.02 ERA (3.61 FIP) in 11 starts and 59.2 IP
• Jameson Taillon: 2.30 ERA (2.88 FIP) in 10 starts and 58.2 IP
• Luis Severino: 2.95 ERA (3.56 FIP in 10 starts and 55 IP

The Yankees just wrapped up a 6-0 homestand in which they allowed seven runs total, including four in Sunday’s finale. They allowed 12 runs in the 10 games prior to Sunday. It is the fewest runs allowed in any 10-game span in franchise history. A few more nuggets:

• Thanks to Taillon on Thursday and Cole on Friday, the Yankees became the first team since MLB first expanded in 1961 to have starters take a perfect game into the seventh inning in back-to-back games.
• The Yankees are averaging 5.7 innings per start, the most in baseball. Remove April because of the short spring and weird build up period, and they’re averaging 6.2 innings per start. The Padres are next at 5.9.
• The Yankees lead baseball in eight-inning starts (5) and seven-inning starts (13). Only 11 times has the starter failed to complete five innings, the third fewest in baseball, and six of the 11 came in the first 11 games of the season, during the build up period.
• The Yankees allowed six hits total in their three games from Thursday to Saturday. It is the fewest hits they’ve allowed in any three-game span in franchise history.

“I’m afraid to get traded. If I don’t go six or seven, I’m not good enough,” Severino jokingly told Greg Joyce after striking out 10 in seven scoreless, one-hit innings Saturday. “(I'm) watching every starter go seven, so I have to do the same.”

In addition to innings per start, Yankees starters lead baseball in ERA (2.55), FIP (2.99), walk rate (5.1%), WHIP (0.96), and wOBA allowed (.259). They’re second in strikeout rate (25.6%) and barrel rate (5.8%). Baseball Prospectus’ Deserved Runs Average, which adjusts for ballpark and opponent and weather and a million other things, says the staff as a whole has been 15% better than average. That’s the best in baseball by four percentage points.

“It’s fun. Everyone is going out there and throwing strikes,” Montgomery told Bryan Hoch after Sunday’s game. “You just keep competing, keep us in the games. We’re just trying to keep building off each other, I guess.”

It’s not often a team sends three starting pitchers to the All-Star Game, but it does happen. Just last year the Brewers sent Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta, and Brandon Woodruff (Peralta was a late addition as an injury replacement). Cole, Cortes, and Taillon are having All-Star worthy seasons. Whether they’re voted into the All-Star Game is another matter, but they’re all worthy.

Beyond the performance, the most remarkable thing about the rotation is the durability. The top five starters have started 52 of 54 games and the two spots starts (Luis Gil and JP Sears) were made necessary by doubleheaders throwing off the schedule, not injuries. These guys take the ball every fifth day and pitch deep into games. It’s a throwback staff. Starters aren’t used like this much nowadays.

That said, the Yankees are already hinting at backing off their starters a bit. As much fun as it is to watch them dominate in May and June, the ultimate goal is to dominate in October. Severino has thrown more innings this year (55) than he did from 2019-21 (39.1 including postseason and minor league rehab appearances). Cortes has never thrown more than 115 innings in a season. Taillon’s injury history is scary. Caution is warranted, though it needn’t be arbitrary.

“The historical way to do it was just to look at innings totals and go up 20-30%,” pitching coach Matt Blake told Dan Martin. “That’s not fair to guys because all innings come in different ways with pitch counts and stress. You can look at their body, performance in the weight room and training numbers, and then track that as the year goes on. You add subjective and qualitative feedback from the players, who can tell us how they’re feeling physically and mentally, and see if there are any trends positive or negative.”

The Yankees used the back-to-back rainouts against the Rangers a few weeks ago to essentially skip a Severino start, and, including this week, they have four of the next six Mondays off. The schedule will provide built-in rest. And for as much as the top five starters have pitched, the Yankees are middle of the pack with 21 starts on normal rest, or 39% of their games. They’ve done a good job balancing a big workload with adequate rest.

A third of the way through the season, the pitching staff has been incredible, and the rotation in particular has been out of this world. It’s the best Yankees rotation since the late-1990s dynasty. There’s still a lot of season and a lot of innings to play, and eventually these guys will have a bad week that sets off “are they crashing back to Earth?” alarms. I thought it would happen by now, but nope. If anything, the rotation is getting better as we get deeper into the season.

“The sign of a dominant team is that every day your starting pitcher gives you a chance,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told Joel Sherman over the weekend. “... They are having starters shorten games. They are making an already good bullpen better by not overworking it. And they are giving their offense games to win. It’s a tough recipe to be against.”

Judge’s lack of whiffs

Aaron Judge did something Sunday he hasn’t done as much this season as in the past: he struck out twice. It was his 17th multi-strikeout game this year, the 13th most in baseball, so it’s not like he’s become a LeMahieuian contact machine. But 17 multi-strikeout games puts him on pace for 51. From 2017-20, he averaged 65 multi-strikeout games per 162 games played.

Once a lock for a 30% strikeout rate, Judge cut his strikeout rate to a career low 25.0% last year, and this year it sits at 25.7%. That’s only 16% higher than the 22.3% league average. From 2017-20, his strikeout rate was 40% higher than average. Even better than the strikeout rate is the swinging strike rate. This is a thing of beauty:

Judge has an 85.3% in-zone contact rate and a 76.6% contact rate overall. The league averages are 84.5% and 76.5%, respectively. From 2017-20, those numbers for Judge were 79.2% and 66.4%, again respectively. What happens when you combine Judge’s nearly unmatched ability to hit the ball hard …

• Average exit velocity: 95.8 mph (3rd in MLB; MLB average: 88.7 mph)
• Hard-hit rate: 61.1% (2nd in MLB; MLB average: 38.5%)
• Barrel rate: 26.4% (1st in MLB; MLB average: 7.8%)

… with league average contact rates? You get a .313/.382/.677 (200 wRC+) batting line and 21 home runs in 54 team games. Judge leads baseball in homers (by five), SLG (by 45 points), and wRC+ (by eight points). First and foremost, this is a player with tremendous natural gifts who is in his prime. It’s also a player who can now draw from years of big league experience.

“I think just having a couple thousand more at-bats under my belt, seeing more pitches, and being in different scenarios. I think that’s all it is,” Judge told Brendan Kuty over the weekend when asked what's fueling his monster season. “... When I’m in a good position to hit. I feel like I can cover a lot of the plate. Sometimes when you’re struggling, you’re kind of just waiting for those mistakes, you’re trying to wait for something out over the plate. But if you’re in the big leagues, man, you get very few mistakes like that. So, for me, I’m going to try to keep it simple. I’m in a good position to hit. I feel like I can reach that slider away and still kind of cover the sinker in.”

Judge is a big man with a lot of strike zone to cover who consistently has pitches below the zone called strikes. Strikeouts are always going to be part of his game, and when he first came up, he showed you can be an excellent hitter with a 30% strikeout rate. Now that he’s cut that down to 25%, which is damn close to the league average, Judge is the best version of himself. He’s great and he keeps getting better. A franchise player, through and through.

King goes back-to-back

For the first time since at least high school, Mike King pitched back-to-back days this past weekend. He’s pitched with one day of rest a few times this year and last September, and also once in college, but never back-to-back days. And he responded by striking out all three batters he faced on 11 pitches with the automatic runner at second base. Test passed.

“He had a couple of hiccups where maybe there were some pitch selection things,” Aaron Boone told Erik Boland about King’s performance. “But he came in pounding the strike zone. It (was) his first back-to-back days, so to come in and respond that way, that was huge.”

King threw only seven pitches in his 1-2-3 inning Saturday, so it’s not like he was coming off a big workload, but still, it was his first time going back-to-back. The Tigers swung at five of his 11 pitches Sunday and missed with all five. His sinker averaged 95.1 mph, almost exactly his 95.0 mph season average. Back-to-back days and no drop in stuff. Hooray.

Due in part to his recent struggles, King has gone no more than one inning in four of his last five appearances. There’s an argument to be made using him for one inning three times a week is more impactful than 2-3 innings twice a week, but I hope the Yankees can keep him stretched out. That lockdown multi-inning reliever is so valuable. At least now we know King can go one inning back-to-back days. That was something new this weekend.

ManBan debuts as a Yankee

If you’re reading this, I sincerely thank you, and I’m guessing your favorite part of Friday’s game was not the 13-run outburst or Cole flirting with perfection. It was Manny Banuelos finally – finally! – making his Yankees debut, 5,091 days after his name first appeared on RAB. Those two scoreless low leverage innings were a long, long time coming (video).

“This is amazing. This is huge for me. I’ve been waiting for this a long time,” Banuelos told Jake Seiner after the game. “... I grew up as a Yankee fan. When they gave me the opportunity to be here, it was great for me. I was very sad when I left, and then, too, you know, I’m very grateful to the team, with the organization, to give me that chance to come back.”

Banuelos had his wife and two daughters in the stands Friday, and his teammates gave him the championship belt after the game even though Cole dominated and the offense was great. Also, the Yankees presented Banuelos with the ball he threw for his first pitch as a Yankee. He said he’ll display it next to balls Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera signed for him in 2012.

Prospect photos were hard to find back in the day (if you didn’t get one in Spring Training, you were pretty much out of luck for the season) and this has to be most used photo in RAB history:

Now that he’s a Yankee – an actual New York Yankee rather than just a Yankees prospect – it’s time we replace the Banuelos photo. The look to the heavens after recording the final out Friday feels appropriate:

Manny’s outing was more than a feel good-story. He looked really good! Ran his fastball up to 96 mph, got three misses on seven swings against the breaking ball, and only one of the seven batters he faced hit the ball out of the infield. The “I’m finally a Yankee” adrenaline may have contributed to the velocity, but he didn’t look like a 31-year-old journeyman. He looked legit.

I’m not sure what the rest of the season holds for Banuelos. Eventually the Yankees will need roster spots for Aroldis Chapman and Jonathan Loaisiga, and the rotation is pitching so well right now that the long man isn’t used often. However long he sticks around and however effective he is, I’ll enjoy it. Banuelos wearing pinstripes is a fun story in what has been a very fun season.

“Hey man, welcome home. This is where you’re supposed to be. This is where you are right now. Enjoy it,” Jose Trevino said to Banuelos, he told Seiner. “Stories like that, those go a long ways not only for the guys, but for kids around the world. Maybe you aren’t where you’re supposed to be right now, but later on, that doesn’t mean that you can’t come back.”

Miscellany

Trevino went 7-for-13 (.539) with two home runs during the homestand and he’s living the good BABIP life right now. He had a double play ball hit an umpire and instead go for a single (video) and a fly ball turn into a triple because natural infielder Willi Castro misread it in center (video). That’s the value of contact. You never know when an umpire is going to get in the way or an infielder will misread a ball in center. Trevino has a 14.3% strikeout rate and a 7.7% swinging strike rate this season. His career numbers aren’t quite that good (18.5% strikeouts and 9.4% swinging strikes), but he’s always been a contact guy. It paid off during the homestand … Matt Carpenter is 5-for-19 (.263) with the Yankees and the five hits are a bunt single and four home runs. The spray chart of his five hits is delightful:

All the position players are healthy now and the Yankees sent Tim Locastro to Triple-A after they activated him off the injured list over the weekend, creating a spot for Carpenter. Carpenter’s defensive numbers have been pretty bad the last few years and, probably not coincidentally, the Yankees have only used him at DH (and as a pinch-hitter). We’ll see where this goes, but right now Carpenter is providing the lefty power the Yankees thought they would get from Joey Gallo … Gallo in right field is officially A Thing. He’s started his last nine games in right field and we’ve seen the Gallo in right, Judge in center, Aaron Hicks in left outfield alignment three times in the last five games. Gallo said he’s most comfortable in right field last week and it seems like the Yankees are doing all they can to get his bat going, even it means rearranging their outfield alignment to make him more comfortable … And finally, the Yankees have played 25 games under three hours this season, including seven of their last 10, and their average time of game is 3:08. Last year they played 40 games under three hours and averaged 3:16 per game. Great pitching plus PitchCom is a wonderful combination for us old cranks who think baseball games take too damn long nowadays.

2. Mining the news. A couple newsy items came through the last few days. Let’s round ‘em up and talk about ‘em.

Andujar requests trade (again)

According to Ken Rosenthal, Miguel Andujar told the Yankees he wants to be traded after they sent him to Triple-A to clear a roster spot for Giancarlo Stanton over the weekend. Andujar has no official recourse and the Yankees are under no obligation to trade him, and this is not a new request. Joel Sherman says Andujar has wanted a trade since last season.

Joey Gallo is still barfing it up in pinstripes, but there’s basically zero chance the Yankees admit defeat and cut bait with him, and put Andujar in left field full-time (or Stanton in the outfield and Andujar at DH). Andujar, 27, is 11-for-41 (.268) with two doubles in the big leagues this year and he remains an injury away from being called back up. He’s still a depth piece for the Yankees.

I can’t imagine Andujar has much trade value, if any. The best case scenario is probably another team’s change of scenery candidate*. For his sake, I hope Andujar goes to a team that plays him every day and lets him take his career into his own hands rather than give him a few MLB games here and there. Good chance Miggy Missiles has already played his final game as a Yankee.

* R.J. Anderson put together a list of possible trade destinations, if you’re interested. I thought about Andujar for Willie Calhoun, who the Rangers designated for assignment over the weekend, though he’s just a lefty hitting Andujar as a defensively challenged high contact/low exit velocity player who also didn’t like being sent to Triple-A. Shrug. (Also, the Yankees might be to able to just claim Calhoun on waivers.)

Britton throws in the bullpen

Zack Britton has taken the next step with his Tommy John surgery rehab. He threw in the bullpen for the first time Friday. “I got the report from the trainers real quick that everything went well with that,” Aaron Boone told Brendan Kuty, adding there’s some optimism Britton could return to the Yankees as soon as August. He had his elbow rebuilt last September.

Bringing Britton back in August would be aggressive, if not reckless, but also he’s 34 years old and has made close to $90M in his career? This isn’t some kid with his entire career ahead of him. If Britton wants to push it and return in August so he can chase a ring, then I say let him. Whether he can return that soon and be effective is another matter, but let him try if he’s willing. As I’ve been saying, I’ll consider anything Britton gives the Yankees this year a bonus.

Cordero makes Triple-A debut

Jimmy Cordero, aka Jimmy Biceps, made his debut with Triple-A Scranton over the weekend. He faced three batters Friday, threw six pitches, and got three ground balls (including a single and a double play). Conor Foley says the sinker sat in the 96-98 mph range. Sunday didn’t go as well: three runs on four hits in an inning, including a homer. Cordero had Tommy John surgery last March and this was his first official game action with his new elbow ligament.

I wrote a bit about Cordero last week and noted that, prior to Tommy John surgery, he showed all the traits the Yankees want in their relievers (high velocity sinker, weak contact, etc.). Cordero told Foley his arm feels like it usually does in Spring Training, so he’s going to need a few more Triple-A outings to get up to speed, but he’s on the way back and the velocity is encouraging. A guy to watch as a possible bullpen option later this season for sure.

German nearing rehab assignment

Domingo German is slated to throw a simulated game in Tampa in the coming days, and if all goes well, he could begin a minor league rehab assignment soon thereafter, according to Kuty. The Yankees are going to build him up as a starter. German is out with a shoulder issue suffered during the offseason. He missed time with shoulder trouble in 2019 and 2021 as well.

There’s no sense worrying how German fits right now. Let him get healthy and be in position to return before thinking about it. German does have a minor league option remaining, so he can go to Triple-A, if necessary. If the Yankees need him in the rotation or in the bullpen, they can go that route too. For now, German is working his way back, and the more healthy pitchers, the better.

Yankees trade for Bauers

Over the weekend the Yankees acquired first baseman and corner outfielder Jake Bauers from the Reds for cash, the team announced. He’s not on the 40-man roster and has been assigned to Triple-A Scranton. Bauers, 26, was hitting .135/.276/.271 (54 wRC+) in 29 Triple-A games with Cincinnati. He’s a career .213/.307/.348 (82 wRC+) hitter in over 1,100 MLB plate appearances.

Not too long ago Bauers had prospect shine (Baseball America had him at No. 45 on their 2018 top 100 prospects list) but non-elite first base prospects are not to be trusted. There are some exit velocity reasons to buy into Bauers as a swing change candidate, so we’ll see. More than anything, the trade leads me to believe the Yankees have a few opt outs coming up (Greg Bird? Derek Dietrich? Ronald Guzman?) and needed another body for the RailRiders.

Yankees on track for $7M+ luxury tax bill

According to Ron Blum, the Yankees opened the season with a $261.4M payroll for luxury tax purposes, putting them on track for $7.6M tax bill. Those are the official numbers calculated by the commissioner’s office. Five teams had Opening Day payrolls north of the $230M luxury tax threshold:

1. Dodgers: $310.6M ($47M tax bill)
2. Mets: $289.3M ($22.5M tax bill)
3. Yankees: $261.4M ($7.6M tax bill)
4. Phillies: $233.1M ($629,000 tax bill)
5. Red Sox: $232.3M ($466,000 tax bill)

That Dodgers number includes Trevor Bauer’s full $34M luxury tax hit, at least part of which will be wiped away once the appeal of his suspension is complete. I don’t get what the Phillies and Red Sox are doing. Why go only a little over the threshold? You’ve already lost the benefits of staying under. Why not spend more to improve the team at that point? Whatever. Not my concern.

Anyway, my back of the envelope math puts the luxury tax payroll at a little more than $263M after injury call ups and the Matt Carpenter signing. That leaves roughly $7M under the $270M third luxury tax threshold, at which point next year’s first round pick will be moved back 10 spots. The Yankees treated that threshold as a hard cap in 2020. I assume they will again this year.

Sterling cutting back on workload

And finally, Andrew Marchand reports John Sterling will cut back on his travel schedule and miss 25-30 road games in the second half of the season. “It is just to recharge my batteries. I’ve been doing road games with teams for 52 years. I love this game, but I hate being on the road,” the soon-to-be 84-year-old Sterling told Marchand.

Vin Scully cut back on travel near the end of his career and this is pretty obviously another step toward the end of Sterling’s time as the radio voice of the Yankees. He’s been at it since 1989 and at one point called 5,058 consecutive games. That streak ended in 2019, and Sterling’s missed a few other games with health issues the last three years. Now he's skipping a pretty sizable chunk of the road schedule.

I know a lot of folks find Sterling infuriating because he misses calls and straight up ignores the game at times, but the man is an institution. Listening to Sterling while stuck on a bus or on the subway is one of life’s simple pleasures to me. No, he’s not perfect, but none of us are, and generations (plural) of Yankees fans grew up listening to him. I will miss Sterling whenever he’s gone.

(Marchand says Ryan Ruocco and Justin Shackil are candidates to fill in for Sterling later this year, and there’s been talk of moving Suzyn Waldman over to play-by-play as well.)

3. 54-game check-in. The Yankees have played 54 games and that means they’re exactly one-third of the way through the season. They have baseball’s best record (39-15) and second best run differential (+102), and the six other Yankees teams to win at least 39 of their first 54 games went to the World Series. Four of those six teams won the title.

The Yankees are the 24th team in history to win at least 39 of their first 54 games and only the fifth team to do it in the Wild Card Era. Here are the other four:

• 2016 Cubs: 39-15 (finished 103-58, won World Series)
• 2001 Mariners: 41-12 (finished 116-46, lost ALCS)
• 1998 Yankees: 41-13 (finished 114-48, won World Series)
• 1998 Braves: 39-15 (finished 106-56, lost NLCS)

The Yankees postseason odds are up over 99%, so if they collapse and miss the postseason, they should fire everyone, sell the team, burn down the stadium, etc. The goal now is winning the AL East and securing a first round bye. The division odds:

I wouldn’t read too much into Tampa’s 2.7% odds. Projection systems always underrate the Rays because their thing is maximizing very specific skills of players who are pretty blah overall. The Yankees and Rays still have 15 games remaining. Tampa is not to be dismissed in the AL East race. (The Yankees and Blue Jays still have 10 games remaining.)

Unless the Twins get super hot the next four months, the standings tell us securing a first round bye is as simple as winning the AL East. Beat out the Blue Jays and Rays for the division title and you’ll finish ahead of the AL Central winner, and thus get to skip the Wild Card Round. Here’s what the Yankees have to do the rest of the way to reach certain wins thresholds:

• 100 wins: 61-47 (92-win pace)
• 97 wins (should clinch bye): 58-50 (87-win pace)
• 91 wins (should clinch postseason spot): 52-56 (78-win pace)
• 82 wins (clinch 30th straight winning season): 43-65 (64-win pace)

FanGraphs projected the Yankees as a true talent 92-win team coming into the season. If the Yankees cool down and play at that pace the rest of the year, they’ll still win 100 games. Playing .500 ball the rest of the way all but ensures a postseason spot. 

(Did you know only five American League teams have a winning record? There’s six postseason spots. The league is very top heavy.)

The offense has been good (sixth in baseball with 4.78 runs per game) despite a few dead spots in the lineup that will need to be addressed at the trade deadline. Clearly though, the story of the season is the run prevention. The defense is much improved (not amazing, but much improved) and the pitching has been unreal. This is the good stuff:

1. Yankees: 2.89 runs allowed per game
2. Astros: 3.24
3. Dodgers: 3.28
4. Padres: 3.63
5. Mets: 3.75
   (MLB average: 4.30)

The Yankees are in a class by themselves. The Astros and Dodgers are the distant second tier, then there’s everyone else. The rotation top to bottom has been excellent, and the Yankees can still run Clay Holmes and Mike King out there in high leverage situations despite losing three key relievers to injuries (Aroldis Chapman, Chad Green, Jonathan Loaisiga). I can’t remember the last time the Yankees were a legit pitching-first team, but here we are.

54 games does not a season make, but 39 wins are in the bank, and the Yankees have given themselves a real nice head start in the AL East race. They’re not perfect (Joey Gallo and Aaron Hicks are a real problem, and the middle of the bullpen can be shaky) but no team is, and what the Yankees are is really good. They’re well-rounded with an elite pitching staff. That will take you a very long way. The foundation of a title contender is firmly in place.

4. 2022 draft prospect: Ohio HS RHP Jacob Miller. The 2022 MLB Draft will take place during the All-Star break and the Yankees hold the No. 25 pick. Here are the draft prospects I’ve already profiled. Some will be players the Yankees are reported to have interest in, some are players who fit the team’s M.O., and some are players I happen to like.

We have our first report connecting the Yankees to a specific draft prospect: Kiley McDaniel (subs. req’d) says the Yankees have “shown a lot of interest” in Miller, which is more than enough to get me to write about him. In April, Miller had a day in which he got a save, threw a 16-strikeout shutout, and hit a homer. Fun! Here are his current draft rankings:

• Baseball America (subs. req’d): No. 37
• FanGraphs: Not in top 96
• Keith Law (subs. req’d): No. 33
• MLB.com: No. 44

The public rankings undersell Miller, who has helium and is said to be in the first round mix after a strong finish to the spring. Because so many college pitchers got hurt this year, it’s a thin pitching class, pushing high school arms like Miller up the board. Here’s video and here’s a chunk of MLB.com’s free scouting report:

Miller features high spin rates and depth on both of his breaking balls, with his 78-82 mph curveball devastating hitters more regularly than his tighter 83-87 mph slider. His fastball climbed to 91-95 mph with some armside run by midsummer, and he focused his offseason on adding more strength and velocity. He also shows the makings of a potentially solid 82-86 mph changeup with fade.

While Miller isn't very physical and doesn't have the prettiest delivery, he's loose and athletic, and his arm works well. He attacks hitters and throws strikes, displaying aptitude for landing his curve where he wants. He uses a high three-quarters slot to create angle and stay on top of his breaking pitches, and his competitive makeup is another point in his favor.

Does that sound like a Yankees pitching prospect or what? Big spin, room to add to the fastball, not a great delivery, good competitive makeup, etc. Miller is committed to Louisville, an excellent program with a strong history of player development, and he seems like he has the ingredients to come out of school as a potential top 10 pick in a few years.

The Yankees have selected a high school pitcher with their top pick once in the last 15 years (Ty Hensley in 2012). Their M.O. the last few years has been polished hitters, particularly from the college ranks. If they’re going to go against that recent trend, Miller seems like the kinda prospect they would do it to get. He checks an awful lot of boxes for the Yankees.

5. Remembering a random Yankee: Jason Anderson. This week’s random Yankee is a request and a player who had two stints in pinstripes, only one of which I remember. Here’s the random Yankee archive. You can find links back to everyone we've covered there.

Anderson grew up in Danville, Illinois, which is kinda halfway between Chicago and Indianapolis. He was a decorated high school player who tied the state record for consecutive shutouts and was a sixth round pick by the Royals in 1997. Anderson did not sign, was a dominant starter at the University of Illinois, then the Yankees made him their tenth round pick in 2000.

The Yankees were trying to prolong the dynasty in the early-2000s and they moved prospects up the ladder quickly. Anderson was moved to the bullpen full-time in 2002 and he reached Triple-A that season, throwing 78 innings with a 2.88 ERA and 71 strikeouts. After the season Baseball America (subs. req’d) ranked him the No. 17 prospect in the system. Their write-up:

Anderson didn't jump on the fast track until the Yankees tried him in the bullpen in the 2000 New York-Penn League playoffs. His fastball jumped from 88-91 mph to the mid-90s. He topped out at 97 in 2002. His slider has above-average potential, and he'll mix in a changeup for strikes. Anderson needs to develop more confidence in his secondary pitches, especially his changeup and cutter, which both can be quality major league offerings. At his size, there's some effort to his delivery upon release, yet he still manages to repeat his mechanics and throw strikes.

Anderson was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training in 2003 and he received attention early on not for his pitching, but because he faced new Japanese import Hideki Matsui in a simulated game. “(Japanese reporters) were asking me to compare him to Major League hitters, and this is really the first time I've faced Major League hitters,” Anderson told Tyler Kepner.

The Yankees had a competition for the final bullpen spot that spring and Anderson pitched very well in camp, so much so that the competition came down to him and lefty Randy Choate. Eventually the Yankees gave the roster spot to Anderson. He’d made the Opening Day roster despite never pitching in the big leagues previously. That didn’t happen often during the dynasty years.

“It's a foot in the door,” Anderson told Kepner after being told he made the team. “That's all I care about. It's a chance to be there, the first chance. I don't even know what to say about it. I'm just excited and happy for the opportunity. From the learning side, it's invaluable.”

Anderson, then 23, didn’t have to wait long to make his MLB debut. The Yankees jumped out to an 8-0 lead against the Blue Jays and late Hall of Famer Roy Halladay on Opening Day, and Anderson got the ball to start the ninth inning with an 8-2 lead. Eight pitches and two batters later, he was out of the game. Tom Wilson and Greg Myers singled, and Joe Torre went to fill-in closer (and random Yankee) Juan Acevedo.

As is often the case with young relievers, the first few weeks of Anderson’s career were up and down. He threw a 1-2-3 inning in his second appearance, walked three of the four batters he faced in his third appearance, threw a 1-2-3 inning in his fourth appearance, then got tagged for three runs in his fifth appearance. Anderson allowed six runs in 5.2 April innings.

That wasn’t enough to keep Anderson on the roster, so he was sent to Triple-A on April 20th, when Mariano Rivera was activated off the injured list (he missed the start of the season with a groin injury). Anderson shoved in Triple-A, striking out 12 in 7.2 scoreless innings, then he was brought back to the Yankees in mid May to replace injured random Yankee Steve Karsay.

Over the next two months Anderson was solid enough as the last guy in the bullpen, throwing 15 low leverage innings with a 3.00 ERA. He made 15 appearances those two months and never once entered the game with the score separated by fewer than three runs, or with the Yankees leading by fewer than four runs. The average score differential when he entered was 5.2 runs.

Anderson recorded his first (of two) big league wins on June 24th, when he tossed a 1-2-3 eighth inning with the Yankees down 9-6. The offense rallied for four runs in the top of the ninth against the (Devil) Rays, Rivera closed the door in the bottom half, and Anderson had a win. “This was huge. This was big,” Torre told Kepner after the game.

“We're looking,” Brian Cashman told Kepner the next day, referring to rumors the Yankees were looking for bullpen help. “But we're looking for the right deal. Other than that, we'll do what everyone else does: have confidence in what we're running out there.”

18 days later, Anderson’s first stint with the Yankees was over. He was traded with fellow righties Ryan Bicondoa and Anderson Garcia to the Mets for Armando Benitez on July 16th. It was the first Yankees-Mets trade since the David Justice-Robin Ventura swap in Dec. 2001. (Bicondoa never made it out of Single-A. Garcia appeared in one MLB game with the 2007 Phillies.)

“Armando Benitez, by far, stands head and shoulders above anybody else available,” Cashman told Kepner after the trade. “Every move is risky as the general manager of the Yankees. The edict is always that we want to win now, with no excuses. That's the bottom line. We're obviously going for it, like we do every year. The Mets are going in a different direction right now.”

Benitez made every game interesting and, three weeks after joining the Yankees, he was flipped to the Mariners for Jeff Nelson. Anderson, meanwhile, made six appearances with the Mets, allowing six runs in 10.2 innings. He spent most of the rest of the season in Triple-A. He had a 4.79 ERA with more walks (14) than strikeouts (9) in his 20.2 innings with the Yankees.

Anderson’s time with the Mets was short. He was designated for assignment in Spring Training the next year, Cleveland claimed him on waivers, then they designated him for assignment after he allowed five runs in one inning in his lone MLB appearance of 2004. The Yankees claimed him off waivers in June and sent him to Triple-A, where he had a 4.63 ERA with 38 strikeouts in 44.2 innings the rest of the season. Anderson did not get a Sept. call up that year.

The Yankees kept Anderson on the 40-man roster through the 2004-05 offseason. He started 2005 in Triple-A, and with the bullpen badly struggling at midseason, Anderson was summoned to the Bronx as part of the infamous bullpen bloodbath. Veterans Paul Quantrill and Mike Stanton were designated for assignment.

“We're just trying to be better,” Cashman told Kepner after cutting Quantrill and Stanton. “I don't think anybody feels safe here the way things have gone to date. Ultimately, if you're playing well, the safer you feel. The worse you play, a lot of things can happen, expected or unexpected. Myself included, none of us are guaranteed anything.”

Anderson’s return to the Yankees started well enough when he threw two scoreless innings in a blowout loss to the Tigers on July 1st. Gotta start somewhere, right? Three days later he walked four of the 10 batters he faced and allowed a run in 1.2 innings in a blowout win over the Orioles. 11 days later, the Red Sox punished Anderson for four runs in two innings in a blowout loss.

Those three appearances are the entirety of Anderson’s second stint in pinstripes. He allowed five runs in 5.2 innings, walked seven, and struck out two. As a Yankee, he allowed 18 runs in 26.1 innings with 21 walks and 11 strikeouts. Here’s the bottom of the franchise K/BB leaderboard since MLB first expanded in 1961 (min. 20 innings):

1. Steve Adkins, 1990: 0.48 (14 K and 29 BB in 24 IP)
2. Jason Anderson, 2003-05: 0.52 (11 K and 21 BB in 26.1 IP)
3. Tim Burke, 1992: 0.53 (8 K and 15 BB in 27.2 IP)
4. Matt DeSalvo, 2007: 0.56 (10 K and 18 BB in 27.2 IP)
5. Tim Lollar, 1980: 0.65 (13 K and 30 BB in 32.1 IP)

That 2005 stint with the Yankees was Anderson’s last taste of the big leagues. The Padres claimed him off waivers after that season and he bounced from the Padres to the Cubs to the Phillies to the independent Somerset Patriots from 2006-11. Anderson joined Eastern Illinois as their pitching coach in 2012 and has been their head coach since 2015. Five of his players have been drafted, most notably Yankees’ 2021 first rounder Trey Sweeney.

(Send your requests for Tuesday's random Yankee series and questions for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com.)