If the New York Yankees' starting rotation were an '80s sitcom, it'd be titled Who's the Ace? And while Masahiro Tanaka might seem like the obvious answer—the Tony Danza character, if you will—Nathan Eovaldi is making his case.
Eovaldi has pitched into the sixth inning or later in 11 of his last 13 starts and allowed two earned runs or fewer in eight of them. The Yankees, uncoincidentally, have gone 11-2 in those games, and Eovaldi has gone 9-0 if pitching wins mean anything to you.
In short, he's pitched like an ace.
Things didn't start so swimmingly for the hard-throwing 25-year-old righty, who came over from the Miami Marlins in a trade in a trade this winter.
In his first 13 starts in pinstripes, Eovaldi posted a 5.12 ERA and coughed up 97 hits in 70.1 innings, an ominous sign considering he led the National League in hits allowed last season with 223.
So what clicked? What caused Eovaldi to flip a switch and go from liability to a credible rotation anchor?
It could be his slider, which Eovaldi has been throwing with increasing effectiveness, according to catcher Brian McCann.
"It gets him off his other pitches," McCann said, per Wallace Matthews of ESPN. "He locates it well. He elevates it when he needs to. It’s changed the way he pitches, and he’s only going to get better and better."
Add a fastball that touches triple digits and a plus splitter, and you've got the makings of a legitimate power arm, the type of pitcher a team can ride into the postseason.
Speaking of which, if the season ended today, New York would host the Texas Rangers in a one-game wild-card playoff.
Obviously the Yankees are still hoping to catch the Toronto Blue Jays, win the AL East and vault straight into the division series.
But if they end up in a do-or-die scenario, with the whole season riding on a single contest, would Eovaldi get the ball?
It's no sure thing. Tanaka still has the pedigree, both from his dominant (if injury-marred) rookie campaign in 2014 and his years of excellence with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball.
And it's not as if Tanaka is stinking up the joint. His 3.73 ERA is tops among Yankees pitchers with 10 starts or more, and he's fanned 115 in 128 innings.
Right now, though, a case can be made that Eovaldi is New York's top arm, a notion that would have seemed absurd just a couple of months ago.
In fact, after looking like an Achilles' heel for much of the season, the Yanks' rotation is suddenly a potential asset, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post recently pointed out:
Suddenly the best part of the team looks like a rotation front four of Eovaldi, Luis Severino, Michael Pineda and Masahiro Tanaka. They are going to need that quartet either to outdo the Blue Jays or simply make the playoffs.
Tanaka is the oldest of the foursome at 26. Obviously, health is an issue with all pitchers, and the frailty of Pineda and Tanaka is particularly worrisome. But this is potentially a strong top four.
Sherman also said New York might not "open the coffers this offseason to sign a big-time starter such as David Price or Johnny Cueto." That makes Eovaldi—who won't hit the market until after the 2017 season—an even more important piece going forward.
Whether he pitches in a playoff elimination game, assuming the Yankees get to that point, remains to be seen. But if he does, he'll have the confidence of the Yankees faithful—along with that radar gun-singeing heater—behind him.
So did we answer our original '80s sitcom question? Let's put it this way: If Eovaldi's not Tony Danza yet, he's certainly on his way.
All statistics current as of Sept. 3 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.
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