With the New York Yankees facing some serious blows to their starting rotation, it seems as if signing Dallas Keuchel is a must.
It is May 15, 2019, and Dallas Keuchel is still out there waiting to be signed and the Yankees are always in the market for starting pitching help. While the Yankees pitching staff has done a pretty good job this year so far, there is still need for improvement.
Here are three reasons why the Yankees need to sign Dallas Keuchel:
1. Keeps the ball in the park
As we all know, Yankee Stadium is a very hitter-friendly ballpark, some homeruns here are flyouts at many other parks. A key component to being a Yankees pitcher is keeping the ball in the park and Keuchel does just that. In 2018, Keuchel owned a 0.9 HR/9, giving up 18 homers in 204 innings pitched. That is about a homer every 1.8 starts.
Also, Keuchel is a ground ball pitcher as last year he owned a 53.7% groundball rate, according to Fan Graphs. Keuchel checks the most important box in the list of requirements to be a Yankees pitcher, keeping the ball in the yard.
Carries it over to the postseason
Another checkbox for a Yankees pitcher is, can they perform in the postseason? Keuchel stats show that he isn’t fazed by the brighter lights of October. In his career in the postseason, Keuchel is 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA and has 48k’s in 51.2 innings. In order to pitch in New York, you have to be able to handle the pressure and the bright lights and Keuchel’s stats show he can do it.
Injuries to Sevy and Paxton, and German’s innings cap
Another reason why we need to Sign Keuchel is that we truly don’t know if Sevy will be able to come back this year as he has two separate injuries. James Paxton is also hurt right now and hasn’t pitched over 160 innings in a season yet. Also, it has been reported in an article by the New York Post that Domingo German has an innings limit. German career high in innings pitched was 124 and that was in 2014, the year he ended up getting Tommy John. So we can expect his limit to be around 150 this year.
With all the uncertainties and our luck with injuries, the Yankees need to make a move on Keuchel.