Three games, three wins. The Yankees are 3-0 for the third time in three years, the first time in their history they’ve won three in a row to start three straight seasons. They’re only the sixth team in history to start 3-0 in three straight years, joining the 1918-20 Red Sox, 1940-42 Red Sox, 1993-95 Red Sox, 2001-03 Giants, and 2014-16 Tigers. Finishing sweeps is apparently a thing the Yankees have talked about this year.
“One thing from the past couple of years we’ve struggled at was finishing series and sweeping series,” Judge told Bryan Hoch. “Pregame, we talked about it. ‘Hey, we’ve got to close out a series.’ That’s what’s going to make the difference between winning the division or ending up tied. Every game matters.”
The Yankees were 11-4 when they had a chance to finish a sweep last year, though they were only 8-8 in those games in 2024, which I guess is what Judge remembers. Also, that is at least the second time since the start of Spring Training that Judge has referenced losing the division on a tiebreaker (he also did it last month when talking about ABS challenges), so you know last year chaps him. To which I say: Good. Losing the AL East (and a Wild Card Series bye) on a tiebreaker should motivate this team.
Let’s get to today’s post now that the first series of the new season is in the books. Sunday was an off-day and posts always work a little neater between series rather than in the middle of a series, so here is Tuesday morning’s post on Monday.
1. Weekend thoughts. I like the Yankees’ chances if they continue to allow only one run per series. Good recipe for success, that is. This is the first time in franchise history the Yankees started a season with back-to-back shutouts, which seems crazy because the Yankees have been around forever, but it’s true. Here are a few more run prevention nuggets:
The 2026 Yankees and 1940 Cleveland are the only two teams to allow zero runs and five or fewer hits in their first two games. Max Fried and Cam Schlittler are the second set of Yankees with scoreless starts to begin a season (also Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte in 2003).
20 straight scoreless innings to begin a season is a new franchise record. The previous record was 18 innings back in 1908, when the Yankees were still the Highlanders. (Also, 20 straight scoreless innings to begin a season is a franchise record for the Giants.)
The 2026 Yankees are the seventh team in history to allow no more than one run in their first three games, joining the 1963 Cardinals, 1969 Padres, 1979 Astros, 2013 Nationals, 2015 Tigers, and 2016 Dodgers.
That Giants team is mediocrity defined, though they have some legit hitters in their lineup. Willy Adames, Matt Chapman, and Rafael Devers are above-average hitters for their position. The Yankees as a team ran a 27.3 K% and 54.7 GB% in the three games and allowed just one “barrel,” which was caught for an out. Strikeouts + ground balls + limiting exit velocity = one run allowed in three games.
The Yankees last allowed one run or fewer in four straight games back in late May/early June 2022, when they did it in five straight games. Let’s keep this streak going as long as possible, shall we? A fun weekend in San Francisco and a fun start to the new season. Here are a few thoughts on this past weekend.
Schlittler’s cutter
I can’t remember the last time the Yankees had a young starter come up and dominate right away like Cam Schlittler. Luis Gil won Rookie of the Year in 2024, but he made his MLB debut back in 2021. Luis Severino was quite good in 11 starts in 2015, then had to grind through 2016 before his 2017 breakout. Jordan Montgomery, Iván Nova, and Chien-Ming Wang were very good as rookies but not this good.
Whoever it is (Dave Righetti?), Schlittler has the goods, and he was dominant Saturday: 5.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K on 68 pitches (video). Figure he’ll be good for 80 pitches next start, 90 pitches the start after that, then he’ll be a fully stretched out starter without restrictions. Maybe it’s more like 75 pitches, 85 pitches, 95 pitches, then fully stretched out? Whatever it is, I’ll happily take whatever Schlittler can give.
“I was trying to be as efficient as possible. Seeing how far I could get,” Schlittler said (video). “(The pitch limit) was out of my control. It’s partially my fault because I had that little setback, but I’ll just keep building from this week to next week, and then hopefully get up to 90 pitches in a couple starts.”
Schlittler continued the heavy right-on-right sinker usage he first broke out against the Red Sox in the Wild Card Series last year, and he also used a career high 32% cutters Saturday. Even with all that velocity on the four-seamer, it’s everything else that makes Schlittler special. That cutter is an outlier pitch given the movement he gets at that velocity. Here is the pitch movement plot (via Lucas Apostoleris):
Schlittler’s cutter moves so much that it looks like a slider, but it’s a cutter. It doesn’t have the downward movement that comes naturally with sliders. The cutter mostly stays on plane and it is hard. It averaged 95.0 mph and topped out at 96.8 mph Saturday. How does anyone hit a 97 mph cutter that moves so much it looks like a slider? Answer: They don’t. The Giants put one cutter in play for a routine fly out.
It feels like the sky’s the limit for Schlittler. It’s a great four-seamer, an evolving sinker, a unique cutter, and a pretty good curveball (that he threw only seven times Friday), and good location. The only thing that held him back Friday was the pitch limit, which is something he’ll build in the coming weeks. Calling Schlittler an arrow up player undersells him. This kid is on a rocket ship pointed straight up.
The impact of ABS
Over the long haul 162-game season, ABS challenges might be one of those things that even out, and every team is near a 50% success rate. In specific situations though, a challenge can swing a game. I wouldn’t say the weekend’s successful challenges decided those games, but they definitely had an impact, and meaningfully changed the inning outlook for the Yankees.
First, Austin Wells called for the first successful ABS challenge in franchise history in the first inning Friday, when this pitch …
… was overturned with two outs and an 0-2 count against Rafael Devers (video). Instead of a 1-2 count and Devers having new life, the inning was over, a dangerous hitter was retired, and Schlittler was saved from throwing at least one more pitch in a game in which he was on a pitch limit. I know he didn’t look it this past weekend, but Devers is really good, and ending the at-bat/inning there was a key early out.
Then, in the sixth inning, Aaron Judge challenged the first of what figures to be many low strikes, and got it turned into a ball (the ABS review showed it was less than one-tenth of an inch below the zone). That turned a 1-1 count into a 2-0 count. Normally I give league averages for these things, but league averages don’t apply to Judge. Here are his 2022-25 numbers:
After 1-1 count: .281/.404/.594
After 2-0 count: .489/.521/1.244
After a 1-1 count, 2022-25 Judge was merely an MVP level hitter. After a 2-0 count, he was the best hitter ever. It was the perfect time to challenge. The 1-1 count became a 2-0 count with a runner on second and no outs in the sixth inning of a scoreless game, and the best hitter in baseball at the plate. That situation is why ABS challenges exist. Five pitches later, Judge hit his first home run of the season (video).
“It’s weird. It’s a new part of the game,” Judge told Bryan Hoch about ABS challenges. “You’ve just got to get used to it. I’m a hitter. I’ve got to focus on hitting. I’m not going to try to challenge every single one I think is close, but if there’s a big spot where I think I’ve got a chance to flip the count, I’m going to do it.”
On Saturday, Trent Grisham challenged a 2-2 pitch above the zone with one out and the bases empty in third inning. The strike call was overturned, Grisham eventually walked, and the Yankees went on to score two runs in the inning (video). Later in the game Wells challenged an 0-2 pitch to Jung Hoo Lee with two outs in the seventh, and bam, call overturned in a two-run game, inning over (video).
We also saw the Yankees come out on the wrong end of an ABS challenge Saturday when Jazz Chisholm Jr. had a 1-1 count become an 0-2 count with the bases loaded in the eighth inning. He later grounded into a force out at home. (Poor Jazz was on the wrong end of three successful Giants’ challenges Friday and Saturday.) ABS challenges will help you and hurt you, and they helped the Yankees a lot more than they hurt this weekend.
Three games into the season, the Yankees are 5-for-6 in ABS challenges, and Wells is a perfect 3-for-3 behind the plate. The Giants were also 5-for-6 over the weekend, though the Yankees did more with their successes than the Giants. Judge’s challenge Saturday and Grisham’s challenge Sunday led to runs in that inning, plus Wells called for a few challenges that immediately ended the inning.
One weekend into the ABS challenge era, I already find myself thinking “the technology’s there to overturn incorrect calls, why don’t we just use it for every pitch?” That day will come soon enough. Within the next five years is my guess, but it could be sooner. For now, the Yankees had a good first weekend with ABS challenges. I expect many more good days ahead. They’re primed to dominate the league in these things.
“I was kind of obsessive over it. I wanted to talk about it a lot,” Aaron Boone told Janie McCauley about the team’s ABS meetings in Spring Training. “I was going up to individuals almost routinely after every one, ‘Hey, I really liked that one,’ why. ‘I hated that one,’ why. At the end of spring, I pulled up probably 8-10 examples not only our games, but some other games and talked through them, just trying to get our guys to inherently understand instinctively, in-the-moment situations, and also whenever we can – which is easier said than done – is stripping the emotion out of it, which is going to happen at some point.”
(It’s been interesting to watch ABS challenge strategy not just with the Yankees, but league-wide. I’ve seen a lot of incorrect calls not get challenged because there were no runners on base, the count was too slanted in one side’s favor, etc. I gotta things will loosen up as players get more feel for it.)
Doval and the bullpen hierarchy
Saturday was the first close game of the season and our first look at how Boone will line up his high leverage relievers. Fernando Cruz entered mid-inning, albeit with the bases empty, which was his role last season. He was the “come in when we need a strikeout to escape a jam” guy. Tim Hill got the lefty lane in the middle of the lineup and David Bednar closed. That stuff all fell into place.
The eighth inning went to Camilo Doval, who we didn’t see much in Spring Training because he was away at the World Baseball Classic. Only two Grapefruit League appearances. That’s it. Doval was eye-popping Saturday. Three up, three down, three strikeouts on 12 pitches. Eight swings and six misses (video). This is a 97.8 mph sinker with changeup action:
Doval’s had a weird relationship with his sinker over the last year. He barely used it with the Giants early on (nine sinkers total before June 19th), brought it back in late June, used it a bit more in July, used it close to 50% of the time with the Yankees in August, then put it back on the shelf in September. In his two games this year, Doval’s thrown 48% sinkers. It’s his most used pitch again. Hmmm.
The first impression last year obviously was not good, and I’ve watched Doval long enough to know he’ll look like the best reliever in baseball one day and not be able to find the zone the next, but there’s a great reliever hiding in there. Not a good reliever, a great reliever. Maybe the sinker, which I’m sure the Yankees tweaked, unlocks it. I just know I hope to see the Doval we saw Saturday plenty in 2026.
Workload kept Doval off-limits Saturday (it would’ve been three times in four days and the Yankees don’t like doing that, especially in March), so Jake Bird was asked to get big outs in the sixth and seventh. It’s only been three games, one of which was a blowout, but it seems like Boone’s bullpen pecking order is:
Closer: David Bednar
Setup: Camilo Doval
High leverage lefty: Tim Hill
Fireman: Fernando Cruz
Medium leverage lefty: Brent Headrick
Fills in the gaps as needed: Jake Bird
The Giants have a lot of soft spots in the lineup, so let’s not make too much of one series, but 11 shutout innings from the bullpen is 11 shutout innings from the bullpen. Bird has looked good and Doval looked incredible Friday. Those two guys were brought in to give the Yankees a lift after the deadline last season. That didn’t happen, but if it happens this year, I’ll take it. Better late than never with relievers.
The vs. LHP lineup
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, but there was a lot of angst among the fan base about the Yankees rolling out their righty bench bats against Robbie Ray on Friday. What exactly did people expect the Yankees to do with these guys? They are on the roster specifically to hit lefties. This was Friday’s starting lineup:
1. 1B Paul Goldschmidt2. RF Aaron Judge3. CF Cody Bellinger4. DH Giancarlo Stanton5. 3B Amed Rosario6. 2B Jazz Chisholm Jr.7. SS José Caballero8. LF Randal Grichuk9. C Austin Wells
Ryan McMahon pinch-hit for Rosario against righty José Buttó in the sixth. Grisham pinch-hit for Grichuk against Buttó in the seventh, which the Giants countered by bringing in lefty Erik Miller. Goldschmidt played the entire game and took all five plate appearances against lefties (three against Ray, one against Miller, and one against briefly a Yankee Matt Gage). He stayed in for defense in a close game as much as anything.
Grisham faced lefty Ryan Borucki in the fifth inning (ground out) and Rice faced Gage in the sixth (ground out). Those were guaranteed at-bats against lefties because of the three-batter minimum, but Boone stuck with his lefty bats there. That was too early to pinch-hit anyway. Pinch-hit there and you’re all but certain to get stuck with a Grichuk and/or Goldschmidt at-bat against a righty later in the game. Good on Boone for not blindly pinch-hitting because a lefty was on the mound. He left himself options for later.
In the eighth inning Saturday, Rice faced Miller with runners on first and second with one out. It was a chance to pinch-hit Goldschmidt, though Miller had already faced three batters, so it wasn’t Rice or Goldschmidt vs. Miller. It was Rice vs. Miller or Goldschmidt vs. JT Brubaker, who was warmed up. Basically, the decision was:
Rice vs. LHP in 2025: .208/.271/.481 (104 wRC+)
Goldy vs. RHP in 2025: .247/.289/.329 (74 wRC+)
I’m not really interested in seeing Goldschmidt face a righty at this point in his career. You could justify pinch-hitting by saying Goldschmidt could have stayed in for defense, but eh, the Yankees could have put him in after the inning anyway (they didn’t). As much as I bitch and moan about Boone, I’m totally fine with the way he used (and sometimes didn’t use) his righty bench bats this weekend.
The Mariners and Marlins with their all-righty rotations are up next. The Yankees won’t see another lefty starter until the first game of the Athletics series next Tuesday at the earliest, and that’s only if the A’s don’t stay on turn with their five guys and rearrange things in such a way that Jacob Lopez or Jeffrey Springs start Tuesday. More likely, the Yankees won’t see another lefty until Lopez next Wednesday (the day he lines up to pitch).
I’m curious to see how Boone handles things between now and then. Does he give Goldschmidt a start against the Mariners or Marlins to avoid sitting him on the bench for a week? What about Grichuk and Rosario? The Mariners and Marlins both have multiple lefty relievers, so pinch-hitting opportunities will inevitably arise. The righty bench bat usage this weekend was fine. The next seven days will be more interesting.
Miscellany
Will Warren is definitely hearing it from his teammates about being the only Yankee to give up a run this season. He labored a bit Saturday: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K on 83 pitches. As was the case last year, it was the lefties who gave him trouble. Warren held righties to 2-for-10. Lefties were 3-for-7 with two walks. Warren is still pitching from the third base side of the rubber and his velocity is up across the board. He threw the fastest pitch of his career Saturday (97.9 mph) and four of his eight fastest pitches. His sweeper is up more than 2 mph too. We’ll see if the velocity spike sticks like the move on the rubber has … I am writing this before the start of Sunday’s games: Giancarlo Stanton currently leads MLB in singles. Still no walks yet in 2026 yet though. He’s at 41 plate appearances between Spring Training and the Giants series without a walk. Big G is in full Luis Arraez mode right now. All singles, no walks. Well, no, he did go deep Friday (video). That was cool … Ben Rice was not in the lineup against the lefty Friday, so he went through catcher workouts before BP. That includes the blocking drill where they set the pitching machine up to fire 100 mph pitches into the dirt. That always looks like hell. Rice caught bullpens and live BPs in Spring Training, but only one inning in an actual game. This feels like a “he’s our emergency third catcher” thing more than a “we still plan on him catching with some regularity” thing.
Injury updates
Carlos Rodón (elbow) threw three innings and 40 pitches in live BP Tuesday, and he was scheduled to throw either live BP or in a minor league game Sunday or Monday (I'm not sure which). He could start a rehab assignment after that, meaning this coming weekend … Gerrit Cole (elbow) is scheduled to throw again this coming week. He has a “deload” period coming up, meaning Cole will back off intense throwing (i.e. game situations) for a few days to avoid overstressing the new UCL. After that, he could start a rehab assignment. It will be a slower build up than Rodón’s. They’re rehabbing from different surgeries and UCLs need more time.
Up next
The Yankees are in Seattle and you know what that means: 10 dumb innings coming up. The Yankees have played an extra-innings game in Seattle in each of the last five seasons and the scores of those five games were 3-2, 1-0, 1-0, 2-1, and 2-1. The Yankees are 2-3 in those five games while being outscored 7-6. Remember when they kept running into outs in 2022? Or when Julio Rodríguez did this?
For whatever reason, T-Mobile Park makes for weird and low-scoring extra-inning games whenever the Yankees play there. Don’t be surprised if we get another one this week. Here’s what’s coming up between now and Friday’s post:
Monday at Mariners: LHP Ryan Weathers vs. RHP Luis Castillo (9:30pm ET on YES)
Tuesday at Mariners: LHP Max Fried vs. RHP Logan Gilbert (9:30pm ET on YES, TBS)
Wednesday at Mariners: RHP Cam Schlittler vs. RHP George Kirby (4pm ET on YES)
Thursday: off-day
Although the Yankees are rolling with a four-man rotation right now, Fried will be on extra rest tomorrow thanks to the off-days last Thursday and Sunday. Schlittler will be on normal rest, though he only threw 68 pitches Friday, so he’ll be fine. Warren will be the starter for the home opener Friday against the Marlins, then Weathers will face his former team the next day. There’s another off-day next Monday too.
2. Triple-A season begins (plus some minor league notes). Triple-A Scranton started their season Friday afternoon in Buffalo and my weather app said it was 18 degrees at first pitch with winds up to 21 mph. Saturday’s game was then postponed due to “cold temperatures and sub-freezing windchills.” They played a doubleheader Sunday, when it warmed up to 45 degrees. Winter in Buffalo is not meant for people. (I know it's technically spring.)
Anyway, the RailRiders are 2-1 to start the season. Here are some notable weekend performances:
RHP Brendan Beck: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K on Opening Day (video)
RHP Carlos Lagrange: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 3 K on 67 pitches in Game 1 Sunday (video)
OF Spencer Jones: 4-for-12, 1 2B, 1 BB, 5 K (video)
OF Jasson Domínguez: 4-for-13, 2 K, 1 SB
UTIL Oswaldo Cabrera: 1-for-12, 5 K
Lagrange sat 97.9 mph and topped out at 101.3 mph with his fastball in the cold. He did not throw more than 66 pitches in a game this spring, hence the short start. Zero walks is the important number. Between this start and Spring Training, he’s at six walks and 84 batters faced this year, or 7.1%. That won’t last (or will it?), but for a guy who had a 14.9 BB% in Double-A last year, I’ll take any sign of progress.
Cabrera played shortstop Friday, right field in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, and first base in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader. His versatility is his greatest asset. Might as well keep using it in Scranton. Jones had a good weekend despite missing with 13 of his 26 swings. That’s the way it goes with him. Good stats, lots of whiffs.
Here now is Scranton’s Opening Day roster, plus a few other minor league notes. (The Double-A, High-A, and Low-A rosters will be announced later this week.)
Opening Day Roster
Rodríguez must’ve really let himself go. He’s listed at 770 lbs. on the official roster. Anyway, “TIA” is the temporary inactive list, which is used for short-term non-injury absences. As I understand it, Rodríguez had a family thing pop up and was away from the team for a few days, but is expected to start this week.
Gil is not actually with the RailRiders, apparently. During the YES broadcast Friday, Meredith Marakovits said Gil threw 80 pitches in Tampa last Monday and was scheduled to do it again on March 30th, as in today. (Scranton’s off today.) Gil will make a minor league start in a few days, presumably with Scranton, which would line him up to join the Yankees next week, when they'll need a No. 5 starter for the first time.
Notably absent from Scranton’s Opening Day roster are 1B/OF Seth Brown, OF Kenedy Corona, RHP Adam Kloffenstein, and OF Marco Luciano. Surely Brown, a veteran of 568 MLB games, won’t start the year in Double-A, will he? Scranton needs a starter this week and Kloffenstein may just be in a holding pattern until they add him to the roster. Corona and Luciano might’ve gotten squeezed down to Double-A Somerset.
RHP Dylan Coleman, RHP Alex Cornielle, and RHP Travis MacGregor are on the Triple-A injured list (Cornielle and MacGregor are on the 60-day IL). RHP Eric Reyzelman threw 42 bad innings for Scranton last year and then had his fourth back surgery. Either he got squeezed to Double-A or he’s not yet healthy enough to pitch in games. Probably the former since he’s not on the injured list, but maybe the latter.
Yankees sign one of the Luis Garcias
They signed the former Astros starter, not the journeyman reliever or Nationals infielder. The Yankees and Garcia, who had his second Tommy John surgery in October, have a two-year minor league contract, per Jorge Castillo. He’ll make $2.25M in the big leagues in 2027 with another $750,000 in bonuses. If Garcia’s rehab goes well and he becomes an option next season, the Yankees can call him up.
Still only 29, Garcia had a 3.60 ERA (3.78 FIP) in 312.2 innings spanning 2021-22 with the Astros, then his elbow gave out. He had his first Tommy John in May 2023, had a few setbacks during his rehab, returned to throw 7.2 innings with Houston last year, then needed his second Tommy John in October. By time he’s done rehabbing, Garcia will have thrown 74 innings from 2023-26, including the minors and the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Garcia was in the low-90s with his four-seamer during his limited big league time last year, down from the mid-90s before his first Tommy John. He also showed his usual secondaries (cutter, sweeper, curveball, changeup). Adding a sinker and leaning into the sinker/sweeper profile would align with what Matt Blake and the Yankees do best, especially if the velocity doesn’t come all the way back.
That’s a ways away though. Garcia is fairly early in his rehab, and seeing how he had two UCL repairs in a relatively short period of time, it might be a longer rehab. The next meaningful update probably won’t come until Spring Training. I would have guessed Garcia was 31 or 32. I didn’t realize he’s only 29. A young 29 too. He won’t turn 30 until December. That makes this dice roll a bit more interesting.
(This would have been Garcia’s final arbitration year. The Astros non-tendered him rather than pay him to rehab in 2026, and walk right to free agency after the season. If he spends at least 104 days in the minors in 2027, the Yankees could keep Garcia as an arb-eligible player in 2028.)
Escarra’s ABS challenges in 2025
I wrote an ABS challenge system primer for CBS last week and I stumbled on something: J.C. Escarra had the third best success rate among Triple-A catchers last season. Here’s the 2025 Triple-A catcher leaderboard when you set the minimum to 20 challenges:
1. P.J. Higgins: 77%2. Andrew Knizner: 73%3. J.C. Escarra: 68%4. Aramis Garcia: 65%…2025 Triple-A average: 54% for catchers…90. Kenny Piper: 40%
The 20 challenge minimum is low (Escarra used the 84th most challenges) because Escarra played only 30 games with Scranton, so this could be small sample size noise. It’s believed that challenging is a skill though, that it’s not 50/50 and some guys are just better at it than others, so maybe that 68% means he’s really good at it? We have to wait for more data to know for sure. Just figured I’d mention this.
3. Rapid fire thoughts. Jon Heyman says the Yankees called the Pirates about Paul Skenes at the trade deadline, but Pittsburgh wouldn’t even listen to their offer. I don’t blame them. Heyman says the Yankees were prepared to offer four top prospects, and who could those possibly be? Jasson Domínguez, George Lombard Jr., Cam Schlittler, and whichever one of Carlos Lagrange or Elmer Rodríguez the Pirates like more? Would you have taken that for 4.5 years (five postseasons) of Skenes? Even if you assume injuries will turn that 4.5 years of control into three years of actual pitching, I wouldn’t have. Skenes won’t be a free agent until after the 2029 season. Figure the serious trade rumors are two years away, unless the next CBA upends things … And finally, scratch Nico Hoerner off the super early offseason free agent shopping list. He signed a six-year, $141M extension with the Cubs. I figured that would happen (and predicted it would for CBS). The Cubs love him (everyone in baseball loves Nico Hoerner) and he’d already extended there once to push back free agency, so there was a chance he’d do it again. Hoerner would have been a good alternative to Jazz Chisholm Jr. after the season and perhaps even a better fit for the roster as a righty contact hitter. Forget that now. Hoerner is likely to be a career Cub now, and his deal gives us a pretty good idea what it might take to re-sign Jazz.
(Send your questions for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com. The random Yankee series is on hiatus, but feel free to send in requests for if/when it returns.)