Open Now
Open Now
Watch now

Jonathan Loaisiga may have missed chance to join Yankees rotation

Part 16 of a series analyzing the New York Yankees Had the 2020 season opened March 26, the Yankees had a group of right-handers in the mix for the fifth spot in the starting rotation because James Paxton wasn’t going to be ready for Opening Day due to back surgery in early February. Aaron Boone …

Part 16 of a series analyzing the New York Yankees

Had the 2020 season opened March 26, the Yankees had a group of right-handers in the mix for the fifth spot in the starting rotation because James Paxton wasn’t going to be ready for Opening Day due to back surgery in early February.

Aaron Boone didn’t tip his hand by March 12 when spring training was shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Jonathan Loaisiga appeared to be a slight favorite to join Gerrit Cole, Masahiro Tanaka, J.A. Happ and Jordan Montgomery in the rotation.

Now, with the possibility of a shortened season starting in July, Paxton should be ready — barring a setback. When he had the surgery the timetable for a return was June.

Paxton’s return would leave Loaisiga in an expanded bullpen as a long man or available to work the middle innings.

As has been the case for years, health will play a role in determining what the 25-year-old from Nicaragua is. As a Giants minor leaguer in 2014, Loaisiga didn’t pitch due to shoulder problems and he missed all of the next season when he was released in May. Signed by the Yankees in February 2016, Loaisiga pitched one Single-A game in May and was shut down for the remainder of the season with arm trouble.

Jonathan LoaisigaGetty Images

However he was throwing the ball so well that fall in the Instructional League that scouts from other teams showed strong interest if Loaisiga wasn’t placed on the Yankees’ 40-man roster. Including him on the roster made him ineligible for that winter’s Rule 5 draft and even though the 5-foot-11, 165-pounder had pitched in just 12 low-level minor league games since the start of the 2014 season, he was placed on the 40-man roster.

Submit your Yankees questions here to be answered in an upcoming Post mailbag

Talent evaluators are split on what Loaisiga is. Some view him as a starter because his workload can be managed more easily in the rotation. Others believe his stuff, which includes a high-90s fastball, would play coming out of the bullpen.

“He has real good stuff and is athletic. I don’t worry about his size. He has a chance to be a good big-league pitcher,’’ a talent evaluator said of Loaisiga, who has swing-and-miss stuff headlined by a 97-mph four-seam fastball. In 56 ¹/₃ big-league innings, he has given up 57 hits, struck out 70 and issued 28 walks. “He has starter stuff. My belief is that you always keep a guy like that in the rotation until he proves he can’t do it.’’

Of Loaisiga’s 24 big-league games in the past two seasons, eight have been starts. He is 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA as a starter. In 30 innings, he has given up 30 hits, struck out 35 and walked 15. In 16 relief appearances, Loaisiga has a 5.13 ERA and has given up 27 hits, struck out 35 and walked 13 in 26 ¹/₃ innings.

Health has continued to be an issue in Loaisiga’s Yankees career. In 2018, he was on the minor league injured list twice. Last year, a strained right shoulder shelved him from May 13 to Aug. 13, and limited him to 15 games (four starts) and 31 ²/₃ innings.

Considering Paxton has been on the IL at least once every year since 2014 (two stints each in 2017 and 2018), health is always an issue with the left-hander, who will be a free agent this coming offseason. Tanaka was on the IL in 2017 and 2018, but avoided it last season. Montgomery had Tommy John surgery in June 2018 and made it back for two brief late-season appearances in 2019.

So, like every other team, starting depth is valuable to the Yankees. And when you browse the candidates — which include Deivi Garcia, Clarke Schmidt and Michael King — Loaisiga and Luis Cessa have the most big-league experience.

In that two-arm race the nod likely would go to Loaisiga if he can accomplish something he hasn’t been able to do: stay healthy.

Follow us on Google News