Yankees spring training: Pitchers' Making the Team Meter - Week One

For those that have frequented Pinstripe Alley in years past, you'll know about our annual Making the Team Meter series. For anyone who's new, this series will essentially track the spring training battles that will take place in camp. I'll be covering the pitchers while Tanya covers the hitters. We will be updating this each week of spring training to keep track of how everyone is doing.

We have a helpful color guide to tell you each player's chance of making the major league roster:

In the first week of spring training, a good portion of the pitchers with a fair chance at making the roster got off to  disappointing starts. Nick Goody, Nick Rumbelow, and Branden Pinder all struggled in limited playing time, while Jacob Lindgren and James Pazos were especially bad. I was cautiously optimistic about Mark Montgomery's chances, but he was beat up pretty bad, and will likely have to dig his way out of a hole now. It's so early, though, that things could easily chance for the better for many of these guys.

Thankfully, there were some positives to come out of the first week as well. Kirby Yates and Bryan Mitchell looked effective after pitching two innings apiece. Johnny Barbato looked pretty impressive this week, and could easily find his way on the Opening Day roster if he can outpitch the likes of Goody, Rumbelow, and Pinder. I don't think any of them will get the benefit of the doubt if Barbato shows himself to be the superior pitcher.

James Kaprielian has no chance to make the team, but he pitched well and should be an interesting player to watch while he's with the team. There's talk that he might be ready to pitch in the majors as early as this year, but I doubt it happens. What they're doing right now is evaluating his abilities against superior talent. I wouldn't be shocked if his success now is directly correlated with where he will ultimately be assigned once the minor league season starts.

After a difficult month of September in 2015, it's good to see Chasen Shreve bounce back in the early goings of spring training. It's only two innings, but he couldn't get anyone out at the end of last season. If he proves he's still the same guy that dominated for much of the 2015 season, he'll have an easy time securing a roster spot. He'd probably be one of the more important pitchers on this list, if only just out of default.