Yankees 2015 Roster Report Card: Nick Goody

Grade: B-

2015 Statistics: AA/AAA: 43 G, 1.59 ERA, 12.1 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 62.2 IP
MLB: 7 G, 4.76 ERA, 4.19 FIP, 4.8 K/9, 4.8 BB/9, 5.2 IP

2016 Contract Status: Pre-arbitration

Drafted in 2012, Nick Goody was expected to be a quick-moving, high-end reliever from the beginning. He had a great first season in the organization, playing through three levels, but things fell off the rails when he needed Tommy John surgery in 2013. He was able to make a comeback in 2014, dominating High-A Tampa, but ultimately struggled in Double-A with a troubling 6.75 ERA in 16 innings. Thankfully, in his second go-around, Goody had a much better season this year and even got some time in the majors.

In 2015, Goody pitched to a 1.73 ERA, striking out 12.7 per nine and walking 3.0 batters every nine innings over 41.2 innings before getting promoted to Triple-A Scranton. From there, he continued business as usual in just 6.2 innings before getting the call to the majors and making his debut at the end of July. Unfortunately, he never got consistent playing time in the majors, having to share precious innings with the likes of Nick Rumbelow, Caleb Cotham, and the rest of the up-and-down crew.

He only managed to get into seven games and pitch 5.2 innings between four separate demotion/call-ups in the last two months of the season. His disappointing three runs on six hits and three walks likely didn't earn him much of a chance with Joe Girardi, but it's probably unfair to judge Goody on his limited exposure and inconsistent playing time. Instead, it might benefit the Yankees' to allow their relief prospects to get consistent playing time before sending them down for a fresh arm. It felt like the Scranton Express was out of control this year, and while it's good to keep your bullpen fresh, you also need to trust some of them in order to see what they're even capable of doing at the highest level. Hopefully next year will be different.

For the record, the right-hander maintained a 1.31 ERA over 20.2 dispersed innings at Scranton, but he's going to need a real chance next year if the Yankees want to get anything valuable out of him. With Andrew Miller, Dellin Betances, and Justin Wilson cementing the backend of the bullpen, Nick Goody might not be the most essential piece of the 2016 Yankees, but if he's given an honest chance to prove himself, he should be a reliable addition to the middle relief corps that they lacked in 2015.

Of course the "problem" is that he will have a vast amount of competition with Rumbelow, Cotham, Branden Pinder, James Pazos, and Jacob Lindgren in the picture with still others likely to debut as well. Hopefully he gets the chance to separate himself, because he's likely one of their best options. He's a high-velocity reliever with the fastball-slider combination that this organization seems to love out of the bullpen, so he should get a long look in spring training and will be seen a lot over the course of the season.