During his introductory press conference this week, right-hander Marcus Stroman said the Yankees have one of the best starting rotations in the league, proceeding to list off the usual suspects.
Stroman said Gerrit Cole is a Cy Young candidate each and every year, calling the ace one of the “greats in the game.” He’s not wrong.
The righty wasn’t bothered by the way Carlos Rodón and Nestor Cortes performed in 2023, insisting that both left-handers are elite. When those two are right, Stroman explained, they’ve shown their ability to perform incredibly well.
Rather than a throwaway mention of Clarke Schmidt — the arm that rounds out the Yankees’ five-man staff that’s coming off the first full season in the rotation of his highly-anticipated career — Stroman delivered some serious compliments for the inexperienced righty.
“Clarke Schmidt is a guy with a ton of upside,” Stroman said. “He’s got incredible stuff.”
Later on, Stroman doubled down with even more high praise. He talked more about Schmidt than Cole, Rodón and Cortes combined.
“I truly think Clarke Schmidt is going to be a guy for many, many years in this league once he fine-tunes some little things,” Stroman said. “His repertoire is incredible. He’s got some big, big, big-time stuff. I think Clarke Schmidt is going to end up being a guy for us or a guy in this league for many, many years.”
Schmidt posted a 4.64 ERA over 33 outings (32 starts) in 2023, blowing by his previous career-high with 159 innings. Over parts of four seasons now with the Yankees, Schmidt has a 4.36 ERA across 67 games.
Those numbers aren’t taking the league by storm by any means, but Schmidt showed some real promise this past season, developing into a reliable arm that consistently gave his club a chance to win. He pounded the zone and limited walks — a fatal flaw previously in his evolution as a prospect — while continuing to lean on electric stuff, specifically his curveball.
Brian Cashman took…
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