The following is a guest post from reader Nathaniel Herman.
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Through the early part of the 2019 season, Chad Green has struggled. To Yankee fans, Green’s struggles have come as a big surprise due to his past success. Green had proven himself as a trustworthy and exceptional reliever.
In the previous two seasons, Chad Green was a shutdown reliever for the Yankees. In the 2017 and 2018 seasons combined, Green threw 144.2 innings, averaged an impressive 2.16 ERA, and had a .88 WHIP. Green was also able to strike batters out, while not getting too out of control with his pitches. Green struck a combined 197 batters in these two seasons while only walking 32 batters, making his K/BB ratio 6.15. Through the first couple of weeks of the 2019 season, Chad Green has looked opposite of what Yankee fans are accustomed to. In 10 appearances for Chad Green thus far, Green has a 16.43 ERA, and a 2.47 WHIP. Through Green’s 10 relief appearances, Green has suffered at least one earned run in 6 of those 10 appearances. So, almost every Yankee fan is most likely asking themselves, “What’s going on with Chad Green?”
When Chad Green is pitching his best, his fastball usually hits between 95-97 MPH and he gets swings and misses with his sliders, and soft ground balls with his splitter. Though his fastball isn’t overpowering in terms of velocity, Green is able to pinpoint his fastball anywhere in the strike zone. Whether he places his fastball up and out of the zone or paints the corners, Green’s good fastball becomes great, which makes his other pitches go from average to good. However, in the early stages of the 2019 season, Green is missing with his location. When pitchers miss their spots, hitters usually take advantage, and for Chad Green that is unfortunately the case. Batters are hitting .423 against Green’s fastball, which makes him throw his other pitches more often (via Jack Curry). In the April 23rd game vs. the Angels, Green threw Justin Bour an off-speed pitch right down the pipe. Bour ended up crushing the ball into the right-center field seats for a grand slam. If Green felt confident with his fastball, Green’s approach to the at-bat would have most likely been different. In the back of Green’s head, he knew that the command of his fastball wasn’t great, and therefore he relied more on his weaker pitches.
What will it take for Chad Green to return to his usual dominant self?
One of the primary goals that Green must accomplish is regaining his confidence. It seems that in a very intense and critical New York, Chad Green feels the pressure of the Yankee fans. Whether it’s on a New York radio show or sports talk show, Green’s name comes up and not in a good way. Every player in the MLB has some rough patches through the course of the 162 game season. Green hit a rough patch here in the early goings of the 2019 season, but with his impressive past, Yankee fans should feel hopeful that Green’s struggles are only temporary. The hope is that while he is in the minor leagues, he regains his pitches, pitch location, and confidence. With all of that back in place, Chad Green should be able to get himself out of this slump, which will hopefully lead to Green once again becoming the pitcher we all know and love.
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