With Domingo German no longer in action for the Yankees, which pitchers could step up and try to fill his void?
On Thursday, September 19th, the morning of the day that the Yankees would go on to clinch their first AL East title since 2012, news came out that Domingo German was played on leave for domestic violence. Domingo was set to have a huge roll in the postseason for the Yankees, serving as a long man type wildcard. Now it has been stated that Domingo won’t pitch for the rest of the year and the Yankees have lost a weapon and need someone to step up.
Here are 2 pitchers that need to step up for the absence of German:
Luis Cessa
I never thought I would the day to say these words, Luis Cessa is having a good year for the Yankees. This season Cessa is 2-1 with a 3.66 ERA and has 72k’s in 78.2 innings. Besides some bad outings, Cessa has been very consistent all year and has shown signs of being an above-average pitcher. When he has his good slider he is almost untouchable.
Hitters are just hitting .198 off of his slider this year. I never thought I would say this, but the Yankees are going to need Luis Cessa to step up in the playoffs and he can actually be a secret weapon. But there is one other secret weapon that the Yankees have and I call him Weapon X.
Jonathan Loaisiga
For now on, I will be calling him Weapon X. While Johnny may not have the best stats this year ERA wise, he is a great example of why ERA doesn’t tell the story of a pitcher. Johnny has some of the best stuff in the bullpen for the Yankees.
An electric fastball that has topped out at 99 this year, and a devastating curveball that just falls off the table. In his last two outings, he has had all of his stuff, complete command and great stuff. He has looked untouchable, and can in a way be what German was going to be for the Yankees in the postseason. If Johnny can pitch the way he has recently in the playoffs, then we may have found our Weapon X.