Joba lookin good in the rotation

[NYgiantsfan5689]

His line from today's start:
5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 9 K, 3 BB, 100 pitches

He's still gotta learn to be economical, but a career high 9 strikeouts and only 4 hits and 1 run in 5+ innings clearly shows he is adjusting nicely to the rotation. He's learning to use his pitches in different combinations, and he's also learning to not let hits or jams bug him.

Something else that's very telling of his transition: the play he made at the plate on Edgar Gonzalez today shows me that he's aware of the situation around him, which is something that can get lost in the concentration it takes to switch from the bullpen to the rotation. I feel like the move of Joba to the rotation was not only played out very very well by the Yankees managerial staff and front office, but was perfect timing with the injuries and struggles of the other starters. Hopefully he will keep up the good work and will learn to throw 100 pitches in 6 or 7 innings rather than 5.

[ljshorty89]

He's looking better. The only thing I will say....it will be tough for him to be economical. Because to properly do that, he will have to forget about the strikeouts that made him so dominant in relief. His control has only seemed OK as a starter thus far. He is looking good, but definitely not great. Plenty of room for improvement.

[bwitty24]

He needs to limit the amount of balls he throws as they are leading to too many walks.

[NYgiantsfan5689]

He needs to limit the amount of balls he throws as they are leading to too many walks.

i agree

[Dry1313]

I was there...he got squeezed a lot.

BTW, 5.2 IP...and he wasn't hit hard all day...two lucky bloop doubles was pretty much it

[NYgiantsfan5689]

5.2 IP

oops my bad

[Dry1313]

FTR, his balls were low and away 95 MPH fastballs.

As long as he can get to a point where he can throw 7 or 8 IP with 100 pitches, I don't care about the "walks"

[nyjunc]

He's a strikeout pitcher so his pitch count will always be high, soon pitch count won't matter as much as he'll be able to get through 6 or 7 innings which is all you really can ask of a pitcher today. I'm not sure this transition could have gone any smoother. he's doing a great job so far.

[BronxBomberz]

I agree with nyjunc, keep up the good work Joba.

[ljshorty89]

Agreed...to a point. If he doesn't limit his walks, then his pitch count will always be higher than he'd like. Walks are a minimum of 4 pitches, Strikeouts(which he does a lot) are a minimum of 3. Often, either one take 5+ pitches. If he's striking out 7 and walking 2, thats AUTOMATICALLY a minimum of 29 pitches, only through 2 innings. He probably will be held to 110 pitches max, and at that rate, he'd be more of a 5-6 inning pitcher. I do think he will eventually limit the walks, but you can't assume that he'll go 6-7 consistently until he does lower the walk totals.