The Yankees are 3.5 games behind the Blue Jays in the American League East divisional race, and received bad news about one of their top starters, Nathan Eovaldi. It's highly unlikely Eovaldi will be able to rejoin the rotation for the postseason, CBS reported.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi was hoping to re-insert Eovaldi (14-3, 4.20 ERA), whose ERA belies significant improvement in July and August, into the rotation, but is now simply hoping he will be available in relief. Eovaldi was placed on the disabled list with elbow inflammation, and won't be able to resume throwing until next week. Girardi's best bet is that Eovaldi can come back to the Yankees' bullpen one week after he starts throwing again.
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Eovaldi became a force once the calendar hit July; he had a 4.81 ERA from April through June, and then pitched to a 3.38 ERA in July and August. Much of the improvement has been credited to him throwing a splitter, which he's used on 16.8 percent of his pitches per Pitch F/X data via Fangraphs.com. Eovaldi's average fastball is coming in at 96 miles per hour, but he's throwing it less often - 48.3 percent of the time this year as opposed to 57 percent of the time in 2014 - and using it in concert with the split-finger, on which the average velocity is 88.2 miles per hour.
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The Yankees are also dealing with an injury to ace right-hander Masahiro Tanaka, who will miss a crucial start Wednesday against the Blue Jays with a strained hamstring he sustained while running the bases vs. the Mets in interleague play.
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