Yankees are starting to run away: Reasons to believe it’s for real | Klapisch

NEW YORK — I remember the final days of spring training when Yankees manager Aaron Boone delivered a glowing state of the team address to reporters. It was heavy on optimism, too quick to gloss over the red flags.

But I wasn’t surprised. Typical Boone.

Little did I know the manager was a visionary. Every one of those late March predictions has come true — so far.

Ok, we know a baseball season doesn’t get serious until Memorial Day. It’s been just jumping jacks until now. But it’s time to take stock of the Yankees’ strengths, which have been formidable.

And those glaring weaknesses? Ask Texas if the Bombers have any.

Thursday’s 1-0 win over the Rangers, which completed the Yankees’ three-game sweep, was particularly impressive because of back to back triumphs in games started by Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi.

Those are two October-caliber pitchers, the likes of which the Yankees will be seeing down the road. In both cases, the Yankees found a way to prevail – and they didn’t even need Max Fried.

Boone is too nice a guy to gloat about the fast start. He knows most fans don’t trust him – or the injury gods. Too much can still go wrong. But if Boone isn’t surprised by the Yankees’ five-game lead in the East, I certainly am

Here are five components of the Yankees’ current run that I wouldn’t have bet on when they broke camp.

Carlos Rodon’s Yoda-like wisdom:

Can this possibly be the same left-handed hothead who had the audacity to turn his back on pitching coach Matt Blake two years ago?

The present-day Rodon is a billboard of wisdom and maturity. He’s calmed down enough to read hitters, sequencing pitch by pitch just like Gerrit Cole.

When Rodon first arrived in 2023, his idea of strategy was to light up the radar gun. That was it.

“He has no idea what he’s doing,” a scout told me during Rodon’s first summer in the Bronx. “All he cares about is throwing hard.”

These days Rodon’s fastball velocity is down a tick to 94.1-mph, but he’s paying attention to location. The percentage of strikes is the highest of his career.

On Thursday, Rodon made it official with his slider: it’s now his best pitch. He got seven swings and misses out of the 18 he threw. There were 16 whiffs altogether.

Give Rodon credit: he’s gone from caveman to artist.

Nope, did not see that coming.

Max Fried’s Genius:

I wonder how the Braves, a game under .500 and in third place in the NL East, feel about Fried’s dominance in the Bronx. The Yankees are 9-1 in games he’s started.

Better question: How did they let him walk in free agency?

The answer has nothing to with talent evaluation and everything to do with, you guessed it, money.

The Braves don’t believe in paying pitchers, even elite ones, anything close to the eight-year, $218 million the Yankees shelled out.

If it’s any consolation for bitter Braves fans, that contract was a stretch even for Hal Steinbrenner. Eight years is a gamble on any pitcher, especially one who’s starting that deal at age 31.

Here’s the other asterisk: Fried has a career 5.10 career ERA in the post-season. I wondered if he was tough enough to pitch in the Bronx in October.

But Fried is calm almost to the point of being robotic. I’ll take that as a positive. Meanwhile, his brains and pitching acumen are nearly as impressive as his stoic nature.

Fried has seven different weapons. Count ‘em.

“You can’t sit on one pitch, you can’t look in any one location against him,” teammate and outfielder Cody Bellinger said. “I’ve faced Max a bunch of times (in the National League) and, seriously, I barely got the ball out of the infield.”

Mark Leiter’s Beefy Fastball:

The middle-innings specialist is one of several chess pieces at Boone’s disposal, and perhaps the least scrutinized. But reliever Mark Leiter is keeping hitters off balance like never before: His exit velocity is at a career-low.

How? He’s got a killer splitter and big, loopy, slow-motion curveball that drops in at 74-mph. But the two-seam fastball is pure stealth.

A year ago it averaged a mere 91-mph. Today’s Leiter is sitting at 94, and topped out at 97 against the Rangers.

“We hadn’t seen that from Mark earlier this year,” Boone said. “His velocity has been a difference maker.”

I asked Leiter what his secret was. After all, what pitcher wouldn’t want more heat? His answer came straight out of the low-tech 1970s.

“I decided to gain some weight, it’s made me feel stronger,” Leiter said.

Well. That’s about as primal as it gets. Strangely compelling, too.

Ben Rice’s Super Human Strength:

Sorry, didn’t mean to get carried away. DH and first baseman Ben Rice is not Arnold Schwarzeneggar. But I’ve been taken aback by his four-mph increase in exit velocity this year.

Averaging 93.9-mph, Rice is one of the most dangerous outs in the league. Boy, did I have him pegged wrong,

A year ago I figured the Dartmouth grad, while obviously smart and a good fit in the clubhouse, didn’t have the hitting chops to last long in the majors.

But Rice used his baseball IQ to work on his craft. He cut down on last year’s 27 percent strikeout ratio by opening his stance and taking more pitches.

Rice’s numbers have regressed somewhat this month, but to those wondering how and where he’ll fit when Giancarlo Stanton returns, remember: Hitters who produce never end up on the bench.

The Orioles’ Vanishing Cream:

To think this is the same team that won 101 games two years. Suddenly the O’s look more like their 2021 selves that lost 110.

The list of bad decisions and corporate malpractice goes into infinity. Letting right-hander Corbin Burnes walk away in free agency was unfathomable.

But all you need to know about the Orioles’ current misery is their .190 average with runners in scoring position. Oof.

And here I was, thinking the O’s and the rest of the East would be a problem for the Yankees.

So far I’m batting a big fat zero.

Yankees -2.5 runline is listed at -136 over on FanDuel for Friday’s series opener versus the Rockies. Our complete FanDuel Sportsbook review provides a guide on how to sign up and use their app.

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Bob Klapisch may be reached at bklapisch@njadvancemedia.com.