The Blue Jays attempt to snap their 17-game losing streak at Yankee Stadium this afternoon as Drew Hutchison takes on Chris Capuano. The lefty Capuano made the Red Sox out of spring training and appeared in 28 games out of the bullpen before being released and picked up by the Rockies. Then on Thursday the Yankees sent cash to Colorado for the pitcher, who slides right into the starting rotation showing just how banged up New York currently is. In his 31.2 innings in Boston, Capuano had a 4.55 ERA with an ugly 10.5 BB%.
Capuano throws the main four pitches in a fastball (sinker), curveball, slider, and changeup, with the 35-year-old's hard stuff still sitting in the low-90's. Against same-handed hitters the southpaw mainly just throws a fastball and slider, while he's heavily fastball and changeup against right-handed batters. A fun thing to note is that Capuano has thrown 41 curveballs this season and has not got a single batter to whiff on one. I'm not sure that's how curveballs are supposed to work Chris.
Interestingly, an article published three years ago on FanGraphs three years ago noted how Capuano gets a ton of groundballs against left-handed hitters, but much fewer against right-handed hitters. That weird trend has continued this season as he has a 45.7 GB% rate against lefties, while that number drops to 27.1% against right-handed hitters. I don't have much of an explanation, but it is clear that he keeps the ball very low in the zone:
Bullpen Usage
Blue Jays
- Yesterday- Todd Redmond (3.0 IP, 40 pitches), Brett Cecil (1.0 IP, 8 pitches), Dustin McGowan (1.0 IP, 12 pitches)
- Two Days Ago- Todd Redmond (1.0 IP, 25 pitches), Rob Rasmussen (1.0 IP, 20 pitches)
Yankees
- Yesterday- David Huff (1.0 IP, 7 pitches), Shawn Kelley (0.1 IP, 6 pitches), Dellin Betances (1.0 IP, 11 pitches), David Robertson (1.0 IP, 10 pitches)
- Two Days Ago- Adam Warren (0.2 IP, 13 pitches), Matt Thornton (0.1 IP, 1 pitch), Dellin Betances (1.0 IP, 9 pitches), David Robertson (1.0 IP, 17 pitches)
Hopeful Lineup
It's becoming clear why the Yankees are happy to start a southpaw they just acquired against this Blue Jays roster.
- Jose Reyes SS
- Melky Cabrera DH
- Jose Bautista RF
- Dioner Navarro C
- Colby Rasmus CF
- Steve Tolleson 3B
- Dan Johnson 1B
- Ryan Goins 2B
- Anthony Gose LF