The New York Yankees are banking Japanese ace Masahiro Tanaka making a full recovery from a UCL tear in his right elbow back in July. However, after Tanaka averaged just 88-91 miles per hour on his fastballs in his last Spring Training outing on March 18th -- a solid dip from his pre-injury average of 94-96 mph -- the Yankees may have some extra worries on their plate in regards to Tanaka's arm strength.
“We were working on a couple of things that I don’t want to get into,’’ pitching coach Larry Rothschild said of the aforementioned outing against the Braves, via the New York Post. “I don’t think there is any difference in the average [from last spring]. When he is ready to go, when it matters the average will be higher. But you aren’t going to see that until he airs it out.’’
Regardless of Rothschild's explanation, there are still rumblings out of Yankees camp that Tanaka's arm strength is at least somewhat of a concern.
Either way, we'll likely see on Opening Day (April 6th) against the Toronto Blue Jays if the reported worries are misplaced or not.
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