Marcus Stroman believes he has figured out some mechanical issues that may have contributed to recent slump on the mound that led to the right-hander’s worst two starts of the season.
The Yankees postponed his start from Friday until Sunday against Texas to allow him to get some extra bullpen time in.
“I was able to work on it a little bit and polish up some things,” Stroman said Thursday before the loss to the Angels in the Bronx. “It gave me a little bit of a breather before my next outing, so the timing was good.”
Due to Tuesday’s rainout, Carlos Rodon was named the starter on Friday, Gerrit Cole started on Saturday and Stroman was moved up two days.
The team postponed Cole’s start last week at Philadelphia because of general fatigue, but believes he is on the road to recovery.
The same must be expected from Stroman, as the once-prolific starting rotation entered Thursday with an MLB-worst 6.15 ERA since June 15.
Stroman said he’s only really struggled in his past two starts, but his issues go back much further than that.
After posting a 2.60 ERA through his first 12 starts with the Yankees, Stroman has a 6.32 ERA over his last 10 outings.
And his performance has only gotten worse recently, when he was knocked out in the fourth inning of a game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park on July 27, and then immediately afterwards he had a nightmare performance against the Blue Jays, giving up seven runs in 2 2/3 innings.
“I think it’s pretty frustrating,” Stroman said of his recent form, “but I’m also a realist. I look at the season as a whole and how good I was at certain times. I know it hasn’t been 10 games in a row where I’ve had a bad time. It’s just been a couple of times.”
But those final 10 games are pretty concerning, as is the fact that the 33-year-old had a strong first three months but faded badly with the Cubs since June.
Stroman has failed to pitch six innings in six consecutive innings this season, and his fastball velocity has been declining recently.
Stroman said the slowdown isn’t an issue.
“I’m not too worried about it,” Stroman said. “If the pitch is coming along, I don’t care about the velocity. It’s all about the location and movement of the pitch. That’s what I’m looking for.”
The added bullpen sessions were designed to make Stroman’s pitching form “more repetitive,” an issue Stroman said he has addressed before.
“We all go through that,” Stroman said. “I’ve been in the league for 10 years, and I’ve been there before, had moments where I was off, and then I made some adjustments and got back on track.”
