Yankees confident about pitching depth, and this year they mean it

NORTH PORT, Fla. — Starting pitching depth at this time of year is a mostly illusory concept.

Team after team in spring training will publicly express their comfort level with the starting pitchers in camp and the starters on “the cusp” of the majors in their minor-league systems. It’s a reminder about repeating a lie often enough that it becomes the truth.

Privately, few teams truly believe what they’re selling.

The Yankees, to take one recent example, spent spring training in 2023 extolling a “deep” group behind the expected rotation of Gerrit Cole, Clarke Schmidt, Luis Severino, Domingo German and Nestor Cortes (Carlos Rodon suffered an injury in his first start of spring training and was injured list-bound to start the season).

Part of that extolled depth included Jhony Brito, Randy Vasquez and Yoendrys Gomez, among others.

Opposing team scouts were dubious and the Yankees collectively didn’t really believe it. (Vasquez and Brito were part of the megadeal that December that netted Juan Soto, but Michael King was the “must-have” for the Padres in that trade.)

This year, even with Cole, Rodon and Schmidt all set to begin the season on the IL, the Yankees have been even more outspoken than usual about the comfort they have in their organizational starting pitching depth.

And while acknowledging that injuries and the vagaries of the sport once the games start for real can change the equation at any time, the Yankees, behind the scenes, feel the same way as their public discourse.

“There’s reason to feel that way [this year],” one organizational insider said. “That hasn’t always been the case.”

Rival talent evaluators assigned to the Yankees echoed that.

“Three of your [rotation] guys starting on the IL is a disaster,” a National League scout said. “You look at what the Yankees have in their place and you’re like, ‘that still might be pretty good.’ And it’s not like it has to last the season.”

Indeed, Rodon, who earlier in the week began facing hitters in live batting practice, appears as if he could be back by early May, perhaps even late April. Rodon underwent surgery in mid-October to remove loose bodies in his left elbow and shave down a bone spur.

All signs point to Cole, who underwent Tommy John surgery last March and whose rehab to this point has gone without a hitch, making it back by late May. (If he starts the season on the 60-day IL, which seems the way the club is leaning, Cole will be eligible to return May 24.)

The Yankees will leave camp — again, assuming no injuries to the quintet — with a starting five of Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren, Luis Gil and Ryan Weathers.

Weathers’ second straight rough outing aside — the lefthander allowed four runs and five hits in the first inning Friday afternoon before settling down in the next 2 2⁄3 innings in the Yankees’ 7-6 loss to Atlanta — each of the five has had an overwhelmingly positive camp.

“I like the arms,” general manager Brian Cashman said recently. “The arms that we’re seeing, there’s a lot of quality. Hopefully it will stay that way, but guys are throwing well.”

Or, as a rival AL scout put it: “All of those guys seem to be throwing the [expletive] out of the ball.”

For those unfamiliar with scout-speak, that is a good thing.

Schlittler and Warren have earned the most praise — the former for his sharpness and already consistent 99-mph fastball — and Fried, though uneven at times, is a proven veteran just getting his work in.

Gil, not super-sharp yet, appears to be progressing toward recapturing his AL Rookie of the Year form from two years ago. And Weathers’ high velocity from the start of camp — including hitting 100 mph in some of his live batting practices — has turned heads. (A second AL scout did offer a cautionary note last week, wondering aloud about “the benefit of so many guys throwing 100” at this time of year.)

Paul Blackburn, a bullpen piece last year, is being stretched out as a starter, as is Ryan Yarbrough, a swingman for the club in 2025. Both will start the year in the bullpen but could be early-season starting options if, say, Weathers or Gil stumble.

Prospects Elmer Rodriguez, Carlos Lagrange, whose fastball has been clocked at 103 mph this month, and Ben Hess are inching closer to the big leagues. (The former two pitchers are significantly closer than Hess, who finished last season with Double-A Somerset.)

“I feel like when you bring Carlos and Gerrit into the mix with what’s pushing through, you’re talking about 10, 12 guys that I would feel very comfortable starting a major league game and giving us a chance to win,” manager Aaron Boone said before Friday’s game.

Boone, a third-generation big-leaguer, did tamp down some of his own enthusiasm, inexact science that pitching is.

“That’s comforting,” he said. “But that’s all it is. We have to bring that to fruition, too.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.