Yankees Making the Team Meter: Pitchers - Week Two

After the second full week of spring training, the Yankees have made their first round of cuts and narrowed the field significantly. It was announced on Sunday afternoon that the team had reassigned right-handed pitchers J.P. Feyereisen, Brady Lail, Nick Rumbelow, and James Reeves. They also cut several lefties in Daniel Camarena, Joe Mantiply, Evan Rutckyj, and Justus Sheffield. None of them were likely to make the team out of spring training, but the moves still give us a better picture of who actually will.

Out of the eight players cut, Feyereisen might have had an outside chance at making the team as a middle reliever. While Mantiply and Rutckyj were expected to compete for the job of left-handed specialist, neither did particularly well in the early goings and made the decision easy.

Earlier today, the Yankees also announced that they optioned Domingo German, Ronald Herrera, and Yefrey Ramirez and re-assigned them to minor league camp.

As always, below is the key we use to define a player’s chances of making the roster.

Looking at the starting pitching battle, things sit in the same place that they were last week. Neither Luis Severino or Luis Cessa pitched this week, but Chad Green improved his numbers. Bryan Mitchell, on the other hand, had a disastrous week which likely puts him behind in the race. It could end up being Severino and Green at the moment.

The Yankees cut down much of the field for the left-handed specialist role this week. The moves bring the competition down to Tommy Layne and Jason Gurka, but if you consider roster spots, it essentially means that Layne has won the job. This was to be expected, but it’s surprising the decision was made so soon.

The middle relievers had a difficult time this week. Ben Heller and Chasen Shreve were beat up against the competition. Jonathan Holder hasn’t been very good, but he did manage to improve his numbers. J.R. Graham did better this week than he did last week. None of these pitchers have looked very inspiring, though someone will have to make the team in the end.

Several Yankees prospects had a chance to perform this week. Domingo German finally got into a few games and did very well. Chance Adams added a few strikeouts, but the walks will be a problem. Jordan Montgomery has looked incredibly bad so far this spring.