Blue Jays betting on Kirby Yates bouncing back as a dominant force - Sportsnet.ca
TORONTO – Kirby Yates has been through this type of situation before, heading into the new year after a difficult and trying down season, seeking to regain his form on the mound and establish his place on the roster.
The circumstances were different back then, when a waiver claim by the Los Angeles Angels in October 2016 offered him a fresh start after a miserable up-and-down campaign with the New York Yankees. He was 29, onto his fourth organization after 7½ years of pro ball and in need of something to rescue his career.
“Basically, I was abandoning everything that I had done before and starting over is the way I could put it best,” the newest Toronto Blue Jays reliever recalled Friday during an introductory Zoom call. “I got into a workout regimen I hadn't done in the past, was in the weight room five days a week, which wasn't always the case. Introducing a new pitch that I was unsure of and abandoning a pitch I'd been throwing the last five years."
"This year compared to that is different just for the fact I know what I need to do to be successful at the big-league level. It's just about me getting that health and getting back to it.”
The Blue Jays are betting on his ability to do just that after August surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow, handing him a $5.5-million, one-year deal that includes $4.5 million in performance bonuses. Yates will achieve those if he’s anything like the dominant force he became with the San Diego Padres, who claimed him from the Angels on April 26, 2017, five days after he gave up home runs to Kevin Pillar and Justin Smoak in a 5-4 win over the Blue Jays.
In San Diego, Yates’ transition started coming together, his new splitter steadily developing into a game-changing weapon as he morphed from journeyman reliever to all-star. The transformation touched every aspect of his game, from surrendering winters surfing the waters around his native Kauai, Hawaii., in favour of a more structured routine around the gym, to refining his repertoire. By the midpoint of 2017, he began to sense that his new approach, anchored by the new split, was going to play.
“I’d thrown it enough in a big-league game and faced enough good big-league hitters to where I felt like every time I threw a good one, it worked,” said Yates. “It was just about being able to throw the good ones more consistently. In September (2017), I was just throwing fastballs and splitters and when I saw the results, I started getting comfortable with that."
"I was able to take the results to 2018 and keep progressing with it, and get comfortable to where it was in 2019, where I was able to command it in and out of the zone, being able to really understand how I set it up and do what I need to do.”
