Scouts and fans weren’t the only people who noticed Aroldis Chapman’s velocity was down in Thursday’s season-opener.
“It’s something we’ll keep an eye on,’’ pitching coach Larry Rothschild said before Saturday’s 5-3 loss to the Orioles in The Bronx. “We’ll see as we get into the season and it gets warmer.”
The closer threw a scoreless ninth in Thursday’s victory, but his four-seam fastball didn’t hit its customary triple-digits on the radar gun. Instead, he averaged 95.3 mph, according to Brooks Baseball, and induced just one swing-and-miss in an 18-pitch outing.
As Chapman has gotten older, the 31-year-old has focused on pitching more, rather than simply relying on a blazing fastball.
Though some scouts dismissed the dip in velocity, another said he “would be a little bit concerned. The velocity is down and he threw more breaking balls than I have ever seen him throw. It is one thing to work on things in spring training, but now the season is here and the velocity is down.”
The Yankees’ bullpen is already missing Dellin Betances, on the injured list with inflammation and an impingement in his right shoulder that caused the hard-throwing righty’s velocity to plummet during spring training.
“I think it’s a little bit early and I do think we will start to see that ramp up a little,’’ manager Aaron Boone said. “His kinetic chain is freakish. Once that gets really dialed in I think the velocity will come. Now is it 103 and 102 I don’t know. I would expect it to slowly [improve].’’
Greg Bird wasn’t in Saturday’s starting lineup, but he did early work at third base, something infield coach Carlos Mendoza said was “part of his routine.’’
Bird took grounders and made throws to first and second base.
Asked if the first baseman might see time at third, Boone said it was something he could do “in an emergency.’’
“We have a thin bench, so if something comes up, we could use him there if we had to,’’ Boone said.
DJ LeMahieu made his Yankees debut on Saturday, starting at third base with Miguel Andujar as the DH, and went 2-for-4 with an RBI and committed a throwing error. That left Boone with a bench consisting of Bird, Austin Romine and recently acquired fourth outfielder Mike Tauchman. It was LeMahieu’s first action at third since June 13, 2014, with the Rockies at San Francisco.
After making an error during their Opening Day victory, the Yankees added three more to the total on Saturday. Two of those errors by Gary Sanchez and LeMahieu led to unearned runs.
Troy Tulowitzki’s ninth-inning homer was his first since July 8, 2017, against the Astros when he was with the Blue Jays.
Boone said early in the season he didn’t envision playing shortstop Troy Tulowitzki more than two straight games.
“It will be fluid, it will be how he bounces back. So we will stay on top of it. Right now, early, I don’t anticipate going more than a couple in a row.’’
Boone said Domingo German will pitch Monday against the Tigers at Yankee Stadium. What the manager didn’t say was that the right-hander will start.
That leaves the door open for Boone to use a reliever to start.
“It’s possible, we will see,’’ Boone said when asked if he would use an opener. “We will see how these days unfold.’’
Because Chad Green and Jonathan Holder worked as openers in spring training they are the favorites to draw that assignment when Boone uses that strategy.
Green worked an inning Saturday and gave up two hits, a run and struck out two.
Boone texted with Aaron Hicks on Friday night and reported the center fielder and leadoff hitter’s back problem is improving but not allowing him to participate in baseball drills.
“He feels really good so hopefully we are getting to that point where we start upping his workload and get him into baseball activities,’’ Boone said before the game.
Hicks, who last played in a game on March 1 because of a lower back strain that has required two cortisone injections, has been working on his core and worked out on a treadmill on Friday. Boone said since Hicks has been out for almost a month that he will need a little bit of spring training.
In other news regarding Yankees on the IL, Betances was scheduled to throw a bullpen session Saturday in Tampa. CC Sabathia will start in a minor league exhibition game on Monday, and Luis Severino was supposed to long toss on Sunday and throw a bullpen session early to the middle of this coming week.