Last season, Gerrit Cole was holding together the New York Yankees' starting pitching nearly single-handedly, overcoming injuries and ineffective play around him to win his first Cy Young award. In 2024, the script has flipped. The Bronx Bombers have an incredible, deep staff of starting pitchers that currently doesn’t include Cole due to an injury.
Although he has made progress, Cole has yet to appear in a game in 2024 as he recovers from an elbow issue. In the meantime, the Yankees have gotten outstanding production from their starting pitching. With over a quarter of the season completed, no other team in the American League has had such a dominant staff. All five of their starters have contributed positively, too.
MLB stat guru Sarah Langs put the dominance of the Yankees' starting pitching into historical context. The starting pitchers have combined for 15 straight games of at least five innings and no more than two allowed runs. No other team that has pitched from a mound 60.5 feet away from home plate — a distance that was first officially used in 1893 — has ever done that.
Additionally, Lang pointed out that the Yankees have gotten at least four innings from their starters in all of their 56 games so far. That’s only seven away from their franchise record.
For the Yankees to accomplish such an incredible feat without Cole is shocking. Arguably the best starting pitcher in the majors is still on the mend. Yet New York, whose starters have all made at least 10 starts so far, has made a strong case for the best pitching staff so far in 2024.
Yankees' starting pitching has been excellent in 2024
Carlos Rodon (2.95 ERA in 61.0 innings) and Nestor Cortes (3.30 ERA in 71.0 innings) dealt with injuries last season but have both gotten back to their dominant forms. The veteran lefties are two of the three primary holdovers from last season along with Clarke Schmidt, who has shown great improvement in his second season as a starting pitcher. His ERA stands at 2.52 across 60.2 innings.
Marcus Stroman, who signed a two-year deal with the Yankees in free agency after an All-Star season with the Chicago Cubs, is one of the two new additions to the rotation. With a 2.76 ERA in 62.0 innings, the 33-year-old is still forcing lots of ground balls and changing up his usage of his secondary pitches.
Making this all the more wild is that the best ERA of the starters belongs to a rookie. Luis Gil, who had made some brief appearances with the Yankees over the last few seasons, has taken off this season, sporting a 2.11 ERA across 55.1 innings. The 25-year-old right throws gas that limits hits and generates tons of strikeouts. His 31.7-percent strikeout rate ranks sixth among all qualified starters
Gil is pretty loose with the amount of walks he allows, as his 13.1-percent walk rate is the fourth worst among qualified pitchers. But his potential is through the roof. As the youngest, least experienced starter, he seems most likely to get bumped out of the rotation when Cole returns (and assuming New York stays with a five-man rotation). But his impressive start to the season shows that he's a keeper in the Bronx.
The Yankees, with their stellar starting pitching, lights-out closer Clay Holmes and solid offense powered by superstars Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, are one of MLB's best teams so far this season.
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