So Which Yankees Starting Pitchers Can Handle the Bat?

The Yankees play their next six games in National League parks, which means that for the next six days, they can’t use the designated hitter. But which Yankees pitchers can actually handle the bat, and which will be happy if they can just execute the occasional sacrifice bunt? Let’s take a look, in order of rotation.

FREDDY GARCIA

Garcia didn’t have a hit in five Interleague at-bats last year and didn’t bat at all in either 2008 or 2009. His last hit? As a member of the Phillies in 2007, when he batted .235 in seventeen at-bats. (That season in Philadelphia — in which he made eleven starts — was the only one of his thirteen-year career on a National League team.)

A.J. BURNETT

Burnett played seven seasons for the Marlins between 1999 and 2005, though he hit just .134 in 253 N.L. at-bats. Still, that’s a higher average than he has in Interleague games as an American League pitcher: In fourteen at-bats with the Blue Jays and Yankees, he has just one hit — a single off Florida’s Josh Johnson in 2009.

CC SABATHIA

Of the three Yankees starters who will step into the Wrigley Field batter’s box this weekend, Sabathia’s the one to keep an eye on. Since Interleague Play began, Sabathia is one of only two American League pitchers to hit two home runs, and his respectable .258 career batting average (albeit in just 97 at-bats) is higher than teammate Andruw Jones’s. Sabathia’s actually gone deep three times in his career — he also hit one while with Milwaukee in 2008 — and when he hits the ball, it can go awfully far: While with the Indians in 2008, he hit a 440-foot home run at Dodger Stadium. Said Sabathia during the 2009 World Series (in which he went 0-for-3): “I’m trying to hit a homer. If I hit a single, I hit a single. I hit a double, I hit a double. I’m trying to go deep.”

IVAN NOVA
Nova didn’t pitch in any Interleague road games last year, and thus has never batted in the big-leagues.

BRIAN GORDON

Joe Girardi said yesterday that Gordon was “impressive” enough to earn a start in Cincinatti, and he has plenty of experience as a hitter. He’s never batted in the big-leagues — he’s thrown just nine and a third innings in the majors — but since he played the outfield in the minors before converting to a pitcher, he has more than 3,800 minor-league at bats. He hit .275 in his minor-league career with 119 home runs, 590 RBI, and an OPS of .781. He had more than 300 at-bats as recently as 2006, and in eight at-bats this season for triple-A Lehigh Valley, had four hits, including a home run.

If any of these guys does get a hit, by the way, let’s just hope they’re careful while running the bases.