Ivan Nova Has Earned a Spot in New York Yankees Starting Rotation
August 4, 2011 · Doug Rush · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
It’s time to finally give Ivan Nova his due.
On Thursday night, Nova was basically auditioning for his spot in the starting rotation. With his performance, he’s earned his spot.
Against the Chicago White Sox, Nova pitched 7.2 innings, allowed one run on six hits, walked none and struck out a career high 10 batters in a 7-2 win for the Yankees.
More impressively, Nova improves his record to 10-4 on the season with a 3.81 ERA.
It was his second straight impressive start since getting recalled from the minor leagues.
In his first game back from the minors on July 30 against the Baltimore Orioles, Nova went seven solid innings, allowing two runs on six hits and struck out six in a 17-3 route for the Yankees.
Nova was originally sent down to make room for the returning Phil Hughes off the DL, but honestly, I think the Yankees made a mistake on that one.
With the way Nova has been pitching, he should have never been sent down to AAA. So far in 2011, he’s been winning games.
And now with 10 victories on the season, he joins CC Sabathia and Freddy Garcia on the rotation with pitchers who have double digit victories.
In Thursday night’s game, Nova didn’t pitch like a rookie. He looked more like a seasoned veteran who was dominating hitters.
He had guys chasing bad pitches. He attacked the strike zone. He over-powered hitters. And he pitched with confidence.
It’s basically a how-to list for winning at the major league level for pitchers. Nova accomplished just that.
During the Yankees’ seven-game winning streak, they got great starts out of everyone except A.J. Burnett.
It’s a big reason why they enter Friday’s series against the Boston Red Sox tied for first place in the A.L. East division.
Right now, the Yankees have six starters in the rotation and there is no certainty as to who might get bounced out of the rotation.
But after Thursday night’s start, one thing is for certain, Nova has earned his spot in the majors and certainly in the Yankees rotation.
The 24-year-old rookie is certainly growing up and learning to pitch well in a season. The Yankees desperately need their arms to perform over everyone’s expectations.
They’ve gotten great seasons out of Garcia and Bartolo Colon. And so far, they’ve gotten a really good season out of Nova as well.
If the playoffs were to begin today, I would certainly put Nova in the rotation and definitely over Burnett right now, that’s for sure.
Now, how Nova can hold up and handle pitching in even bigger spots and situations remains to be seen.
He’s still a rookie and still learning. But what better way to learn than being put into the fire and see what the kid can do?
The Yankees didn’t baby Andy Pettitte when he was a young kid pitching in big games for the Yankees in 1995 and 1996. He took the ball and pitched extremely well.
I think the same approach needs to be made with Nova. Let him establish himself as a reliable and dependable starter for the Yankees.
It can only help them in the long run.
But for right now, until someone else shows me otherwise, Nova has earned his spot in the starting rotation with the Yankees.
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