All the evidence necessary to agree with former Yankees reliever Mike Stanton’s vision for the shortened MLB season was reinforced on Saturday.
It was then that Gerrit Cole and Adam Ottavino continued their bullpen sessions at Yankee Stadium before the reporting date for Wednesday’s “spring training” players. Two days of testing will be followed by the Yankees’ first practice at the stadium on Friday.
“I think this has a chance of being anemic offensively,” Stanton told The Post Saturday from his home in Texas. “That’s because hitters aren’t going to get the replays of the live game that they would get in regular spring training.”
Cole and Ottavino are not alone in throwing bullpen sessions since the coronavirus closed spring training camps on March 12. Zack Britton and James Paxton continued to pitch in Texas and Wisconsin, respectively, and Jordan Montgomery did the same in South Carolina.
Stanton has a double plan to prepare pitchers and hitters at the same time.
“I would like all pitchers to launch live batting practice, 40 pitches. I don’t want the intensity of the game, but pitchers throw so many pitches in the bullpens, ” Stanton said. “Batters should take live batting practice from day one. I would like hitters to see as much live BP as possible.”
Stanton, a Yankees reliever from 1997 to 2002 and again in 2005, believes that today’s pitching habits during downtime like this over three-month hiatus shouldn’t limit the number of pitches thrown in the early games.
“It’s a different generation and a different mindset,” said Stanton, 53, who pitched in the big leagues for 19 years with the Braves, Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Nationals, Giants and Rangers. “Somehow they have been pitching.”
Stanton suggests not overdoing it in the first week of Spring Training 2 to avoid injury. But after that, the focus should be on increasing endurance and pitch count.
“The last 10 days were released. I think a starter should be able to throw 90 [pitches]Stanton said.
How Matt Blake, the Yankees’ freshman pitching coach, plans his headline workload between Friday and Game 1 if the COVID-19 pandemic allows it, July 23 against defending world champion Nationals in Washington, it will be interesting and probably cautious.
Cole, who would have started Opening Day against the Orioles in Baltimore and Aaron Boone’s obvious pick against the Nationals, threw 55 pitches in his fourth spring training start on March 10. With two more spring outings remaining, Cole likely would have increased the pitch count in the first by roughly 15, but many pitching coaches shorten the pitch count in the final outing.
However, first comes something baseball has never seen before: extensive testing for a virus.
Yankees players and staff will go through two days of rigorous screening and medical tests before entering the stadium on Monday and Tuesday.
Teams have until 4 pm on Sunday to submit a roster of 60 men. The best pitching prospects Clarke Schmidt and Deivi Garcia who are not on the 40-player list are likely to be included. With no minor league games, this is an opportunity to provide a structured schedule and an opportunity to be part of a taxi squad.
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