After New York Yankees’ rookie starter Chad Green went down with an elbow injury, the team has a decision to make on who will take his place.
The New York Yankees‘ rotation took a colossal blow after rookie right-hander Chad Green exited Friday’s contest with the Baltimore Orioles with a right elbow injury.
After serving up a moonshot to Pedro Alvarez and a walk to Manny Machado, shortstop Didi Gregorius signaled to trainer Steve Donohue to come out to the mound.
After a brief conversation, Green was removed after watching his ERA climb from 4.09 to 4.73 and will undergo an MRI on Saturday to figure out what the actual injury is.
Green was thrown into the rotation for the remainder of the season but now that scenario seems bleak, to say the least.
Promptly, the Yankees need to make a decision on who will take his spot and they need a trustworthy arm that could further minimize the 3.5 deficit they face in the American League Wild Card race.
With the limitation after trading Ivan Nova at the deadline and Nathan Eovaldi‘s elbow injury, there are few starters that may hop into the rotation to take Green’s spot, assuming he will miss the remainder of the season.
Let’s take a look at the starters that have the potential to come in and make a serious impact on this year’s pennant race.
START SLIDESHOW
Luis Severino
Last September, this rookie helped New York claim a postseason spot with his burst onto the scene as a dominant young hurler.
Girardi mentioned that Luis Severino is one of the options to take Green’s spot if he were to miss time but the former “next ace of the New York Yankees” has been a polar opposite of the version of himself that took the mound a year ago.
His last start was on August 18 against the Tampa Bay Rays in which he surrendered seven earned runs on eight hits and two home runs.
On the year he was expected to take the rotation by storm, Sevy is 1-8 with a despicable earned run average of 7.05 and has surrendered 10 home runs in just nine starts.
New York has been stubborn to keep the 22-year old a starter, so he very well may be thrown back thanks to the injury to Green.
However, given the fact that Sevy has struck out 11 batters in 9.1 relief outings without allowing a run, it may be clever to keep him there given the lack of dominant arms not named Dellin Betances.
Jordan Montgomery
Jordan Montgomery
This may be a long shot since this 23-year old is not on the 40-man roster as we speak but Jordan Montgomery turned into an incredibly promising arm in the Yankees’ farm this season.
After going 9-4 with a 2.55 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 19 starts for the Trenton Thunder (AA), the lefty out of South Carolina has maintained a 0.97 ERA with 37 strikeouts in as many innings in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
He has flown under the radar, as the monstrous 6’6″ starter is ranked as the 20th prospect in the system and only the eighth-best pitcher in the farm despite his massive improvements since joining professional baseball.
According to MLB Pipeline, he is the most major league ready out of any pitcher among the top-20 with little to no injury concern (like James Kaprielian has).
There is one major roadblock other than the 40-man issue.
Jordan has hurled 139.1 innings in 2016 which is already above his career-high of 134.1 innings pitched in 2015, so the chances he makes it to “the show” at the same time his readiness says it will (2017) seems more likely.
Justus Sheffield
Justus Sheffield
There are many kids in the Yankees’ system utterly dominating minor league baseball. 20-year old Justus Sheffield, however, is making this whole “pitching” thing look easy.
The lefty was drafted in the 2014 MLB June Amateur Daft by the Cleveland Indians and found his way to the Yankees’ farm system in the deal that sent Andrew Miller to a contender.
Sheffield has been so dominant since coming over, he has made his way from High-A Tampa to Double-A Trenton in just five starts.
In Tampa, he struck out 27 batters in 26 innings of work en route to a 3-1 record and a 1.73 ERA in five starts.
After earning a promotion to the Thunder, he made the transition an easy one by going four shutout innings while only allowing two hits and striking out nine. Yes, NINE strikeouts in just four innings.
Sheffield’s last start was made yesterday, which means his next start is scheduled four days from now so he very well could make a start when Green’s spot comes up but it all depends on if New York wants this kid to take a Chris Sale-like route to the majors.
Sale had a mere 12 minor league appearances and only one start before earning a promotion to the Chicago White Sox and immediately dominated.
No, this is not deeming Justus will become the next Chris Sale and the general idea of having this kid come up so quick may be ridiculous, but during the youth movement that is currently going on: why not let the phenom take center stage?
Bryan Mitchell
Bryan Mitchell
Bryan Mitchell seems like the most fitting guy to come into the rotation in the wake of Green’s elbow injury.
The righty is blessed with dynamic stuff, however, he just was unable to bring it all to the table in the Majors. Until this Spring.
Mitchell threw 15.2 innings this spring as he split time between the bullpen and rotation and looked positively terrific. The 25-year old maintained a 0.57 ERA and struck out 12 batters on his way to earning a spot on big league roster.
Then, he broke his toe in an unfortunate accident while covering first base during the last week of camp.
Now, in September, he is ready to return but has not performed as though he can serve as the dynamic arm the Yankees need to avoid missing the postseason for the third time in four years.
Through four levels including his rehab assignment in the minors this season, Mitchell has surrendered 22 hits in 21 innings while sporting a 5.57 run average.
He did, nonetheless, dominate last night in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre by allowing just one run on four hits and striking out six. In his last nine innings of work, he has allowed just one run and is also lined up to start when Green’s spot comes up next week against Toronto.
In terms of major league experience and sprind dominence, Mitchell perhaps makes the most sense of all to earn a spot in the rotation for the remainder of the year.
Speaking of Toronto, no matter who takes Green’s spot in the starting rotation, the Yankees will hope and pray they can take the form the recently injured starter had when he struck out 11 Toronto hitters back in mid-August.
That’s a tall task, but New York needs nothing less than a stellar arm to help project them to an improbable postseason berth.
NEXT: The Yankees Could Use A 1995-Like Push
Christian Kouroupakis covers the New York Yankees for ESNY. Interact with him and view his daily work by “liking” his facebook page and follow him on Twitter. All statistics are courtesy of Baseball Reference.com unless otherwise noted. Don’t hesitate to shoot him an email with any questions, criticisms, or concerns.