Michael Pineda Is At It Again (Again)

I could begin this post by invoking one of Robert Louis Stevenson’s most celebrated novels, but the notion of framing a conversation about Michael Pineda in the context of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has been beaten as thoroughly as one of the latter’s victims. I could use Mr. Talbot and the Wolf Man, instead, or Bruce Banner and the Hulk. It doesn’t really matter, though. Whatever set of characters one prefers, the point is the same: there are two versions of Pineda, one proficient and mild-mannered, the other prone to tragic outbursts.

Indeed, just last week Craig Edwards suspected that Pineda was at it again, giving up runs in bunches while somehow also producing elite fielding-independent numbers. Yesterday we saw the the complete other end of the spectrum, as Pineda took a perfect game deep into the seventh inning against Tampa Bay while looking like the truly most optimal version of himself. Barring a continued ricochet between starts, we won’t continue to bring you updates with every outing that he makes. Yet what we saw on Monday looked almost like a totally different pitcher.

“Almost” is the operative word there. Pineda still got swings and misses, and still didn’t walk anybody. His slider, however, was quite simply otherworldly. He didn’t do the typical Pineda thing and hang one — not until the moment he lost the perfect game, at least. He buried it, and it plunged all the way down to the molten core of the planet.

Pineda racked up 11 strikeouts all told, cruising through 6.2 perfect innings before Evan Longoria doubled. His 7.2 innings were the most by any Yankee starter so far this year.

Games like this one are the reason that the infamous Pineda-for-Jesus Montero trade was such a big deal. In addition to Montero’s potential as a hitter, Pineda’s raw stuff and run of success in Seattle indicated that he could be a full-time top-of-the-rotation starter. That obviously hasn’t happened yet. His shoulder issues may have permanently relegated him to the role of pitching enigma, a man with unquestionably filthy stuff who still gets knocked around and taken out of the park. It’s not at all shocking that the second (and final) hit surrendered by Pineda on Monday was a home run by Logan Morrison. Morrison’s homer was the only run that the Rays got all day, and the Yankees wound up winning by a wide margin.

What’s truly remarkable is that these two starts by Pineda both came against the Rays. This is the same team, albeit in different stadiums. Pineda was caught on Monday by Austin Romine, and not by Gary Sanchez, yes. It was the same nine starters for the Rays, but arranged in a slightly different order in the lineup. Players generally perform better at home, sure. At a basic level, though, this was the same assignment for Pineda.

So, what the hell?

Herein lies the intense frustration that is Michael Pineda. He’s an incredibly talented pitcher. There’s little doubt of this. He has the raw stuff to make an All-Star team. Fans who have been following the game for a while should know by now that raw stuff doesn’t always result in success, though. A pitcher still has to be able to wrangle his stuff and throw it where and when he wants. Stuff without control and command is just that, stuff, but perhaps referred to with a harsher term that the FCC wouldn’t allow a commentator to utter on-air.

What causes the switch to flip? What causes Pineda to throw batting practice and wilt with two outs on one day, and look like the best pitcher in the world the next? What causes that shift from inning to inning? There seems to be a lot of talk of focus and confidence, and perhaps that’s it. Joe Girardi frequently tells reporters he’s just as confused as everyone else. If you’ve figured out the big secret to Pineda, you’re probably smarter than you realize.

Perhaps there’s no mystery, and it’s simply a matter of basic execution, a matter of making sure the slider falls off the table and doesn’t hang. Perhaps it’s a matter of making sure batters don’t slug .640 off his fastball again, like they did last season, and which represented a mark far above league average. Maybe it’s focus and determination, and making sure those conversations with himself on the mound are of a positive nature.

Every writer in New York, and many of the ones here in the online realm, have been trying to figure out what’s going on with Pineda for years now. Nobody’s quite hit the mark just yet. Unless Pineda cruises from here to the end of the season and waltzes into free agency looking like a very rich man, he himself may not have figured it out yet either. Maybe it’s Romine who had the epiphany and guided him to that tantalizing ceiling of talent. Maybe not.

Once again, there is no grand unifying theory of Michael Pineda, at least not yet. If the Yankees have found one, they’ve rightfully refrained from telling anyone outside of the dugout.

Big Mike’s next start is on Sunday night, on national television against the Cardinals, at Yankee Stadium. You’ll have a chance to see whether Jekyll or Hyde shows up.

But that framing device has been beaten to death, hasn’t it? You’ll just have to draw your own conclusions.





Nick is a columnist at FanGraphs, and has written previously for Baseball Prospectus and Beyond the Box Score. Yes, he hates your favorite team, just like Joe Buck. You can follow him on Twitter at @StelliniTweets, and can contact him at stellinin1 at gmail.

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Two Bits
6 years ago

I’m gonna hypothesize here and say Michael Pineda may have ADHD. ADHD is highly misunderstood and involves alternating periods of inability to focus coupled with periods of hyperfocus. Remember, it’s his command which seems consistently inconsistent. Such consistent inconsistency leads me to believe there must be a specific underlying cause. The fact that we can’t identify any physical discrepancies between his performances leads me to believe there’s something mental going on. ADHD is the obvious suspect in my eyes.

chris719
6 years ago
Reply to  Two Bits

I don’t know, it’s possible. I’ve watched almost every one of Pineda’s starts with the Yankees and the only thing that jumps out is that he has no deception on his fastball. I would have to check the data but it does seem that some days he just has a bit more life on that fastball. Again, did not check the pitch data but the fastball looked to have good velocity and more of that rising 4-seam action on it yesterday.

He lives and dies with the fastball really. He pounds the zone and if he misses he seems to miss in the zone a lot, and then it gets crushed. His approach seems like a good one for someone that is able to manage contact with their fastball, but he can’t. He seems like a prime candidate to try the Tanaka approach and abandon the 4 seam for 2 seamers and sinkers to induce weaker contact.

rounders
6 years ago
Reply to  Two Bits

Yes, but. Derek Lowe was ADD central. Pineda may just have a poor intuitive understanding of working hitters. Maybe he’s the pitcher’s version of Billy Beane. A good catcher can only take you so far with that. Plus, one hanging slider will cancel ten good pitches.