New York Yankees starting pitcher Michael Pineda took a big step towards his return to the big league club, making his first rehab start on Sunday.
Pineda pitched for the Trenton Thunder, the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate. In his three innings of work, the 26-year-old allowed two runs on four hits, throwing 30 of his 42 pitches for strikes.
His fastball velocity sat between 91-93 mph throughout most of his outing, but the right hander hit as high as 94 mph according to the stadium’s radar gun. As he threw mainly fastballs in this start, it will be interesting to see if Pineda works more on his secondary pitches during his next rehab outing.
This is a big step for the right hander, who took the mound for the first time since being placed on the disabled list on July 30 due to a right forearm strain. After his outing, Pineda told reporters that he didn’t feel any pain, noting that he had good command on the ball during his three innings of work.
Pineda also emphasized that he wants to get back to the big leagues as soon as possible, but knows he needs to build up his pitch count before that will happen. The right hander feels he might only need one more rehab start before he will be ready to be called up, but it is unclear at this point as to what the Yankees’ plan with him will be moving forward.
In his 19 big league starts so far in 2015, Pineda has posted a 9-7 record with a 3.97 ERA in 118 innings pitched. Of course the Yankees want him back in their rotation as soon as possible, but it appears as if they want to make sure he’s fully ready before bringing him back to the big leagues.
