The New York Yankees acquired Nathan Eovaldi last season and hoped he could harness the raw talent he possessed. It was a move that paid off for a good part of the season as Eovaldi had a career year, posting a 14-3 record, 4.20 ERA (3.42 FIP) and 121 strikeouts in 154.1 innings. It wasn’t a complete transformation, but it was a step in the right direction.
This season, Eovaldi will be counted on to continue those steps in the right direction. He will need to work on his splitter which he used a lot more last season to moderate success. In fact, by the end of the year he had used his splitter 34 percent of the time. This kept hitters off balance and forced them to cover more of the strike zone, allowing him to be more effective with his 98-mph fastball.
The Yankees need Eovaldi to continue to improve his splitter. Last season he had a 29 percent swing and miss rate on the pitch and 70 percent of those put in play were ground balls. For a pitcher who was prone to line drives and giving up hits in bunches, this was a huge positive. He still gave up hits last season at a 10.2 per nine-inning clip, but his strikeout rate jumped from 6.4/9 to 7.1 which is a good indication he could be poised to break out in 2016.
Another indicator is the tale of two halves that Eovaldi had last year. In the first half, he posted a 4.50 ERA and gave up 123 hits in 98 innings while posting a 6.5 K/9 ratio. In the second half, Eovaldi posted a 3.67 ERA and gave up 52 hits in 56.1 innings while his strikeout ratio jumped to eight per nine innings.
As long as Eovaldi continues working on his splitter and keeping hitters honest, he will see his strikeout rate continue to climb and the number of hits he gives up decline. Brian Cashman saw something in Eovaldi that moved him to acquire him. It looks like he was right and Eovaldi could be scratching the surface of his vast potential.
