Analysis

When A Yankees Fan Becomes A Yankee: Adam Ottavino

With the Yankees signing right-handed reliever Adam Ottavino, who grew up a Yankees fan, one could only imagine how big this is for the New York native.

Last week the Yankees signed Adam Ottavino to a three-year, $27 million contract. The move has been heralded by fans and pundits alike.  Ottavino brings a solid state line from 2018, a season in which he actually crafted a new two-seamer to complement his incredibly nasty slider. The results were staggering.

75 G, 77.2 IP, 41 H, 21 ER, 2.43 ERA, 2.74 FIP, 0.991 WHIP, 112 K, 13.0 K/9, 36 BB, 4.2 BB/9

While some are worried about Ottavinos walk rate, his k-rate and nearly unhittable stuff should outweigh his potential for wildness. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the Ottavino signing, however, is that he is a lifelong Yankees fan and now he has the opportunity to pitch for his favorite team.

The Babe

Ottavino’s offseason started off with a bang when he claimed he could strike out Babe Ruth “every time.”

Ottavino caught a lot of heat for this comment, but he does have some pretty nasty stuff.

This won’t be the last time we hear from Coney…

It seems as though everyone has been talking about Ottavino’s Brooklyn connection for years. Ottavino is a Brooklyn native, who still resides in Brooklyn during the offseason. His mom is a school teacher in the PS system as well.

Ottavino’s hometown pride shown through even though he was playing for the Rockies.

After David Robertson signed with the Phillies, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Ottavino would sign with New York, and finally, the day came in January. A Yankees fan had become a Yankees pitcher.

Quickly, the long-time connection to his favorite team began surfacing all over social media.

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Me and Pops circa 1994 #throwbackthurdays

A post shared by Adam Ottavino (@adamottavino) on

Ottavino helped fuel the fire a bit…

Now that Ottavino actually is a Yankee he’s sort of walking back that claim he made about Babe Ruth.

But maybe he shouldn’t…

 

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