Who Is Hector Noesi ??

The Yankees reported that Luis Ayala (25^th spot on the roster) was placed on the DL with a strained lat.  The Yankees used caution and decided to place him on the DL rather than just sitting him for a week.  Ayala made the roster last minute when Feliciano went down with a shoulder injury late in spring training.  It seemed the Yankees wanted a 2^nd lefty in the pen because Logan can be a bit inconsistent….. or so Girardi could micromanage every at bat late in the game, to purposely lengthen the games so none of us can get to sleep at a decent hour.

To replace Ayala, the Yankees called up Hector Noesi.  Hector Noesi is 23 years old and ready to pitch in the majors.  A few years back he had Tommy John surgery and since 2009 has been on a tear through the minor leagues.  Last season was his most dominant and Baseball America placed him in the top ten prospects in the Yankees system.

Although Ayala was a lefty, the Yankees shied away from bringing in another lefty to fill his role.  In fact, Noesi isn’t even a relief pitcher.  The Yankees may just be preparing themselves for a situation where a starting pitcher (Hughes/Garcia??) may need to take some time off, and they can just plug in Noesi for a start or two.  Noesi also makes a lot of sense for a 5^th starter spot as he threw a lot of innings the past two seasons (160 in 2010 and 117 in 2009), and wouldn’t be burdened by a “Joba Rules” situation where the Yankees limit his innings.

Noesi relies upon two pitches, his fastball which is mid 90’s and his changeup down in the low 80’s.  He throws a slider and curve, which have been inconsistent.  The best part about Noesi is his control, as he barely allows any walks.

In 2009 he appeared 26 times, with 20 starts over 117 innings.  He only allowed 15 walks in this period and struck out 118.

2010 is the year Noesi really made progress though, starting in Class A Tampa.  He only had 8 starts in Tampa but his ERA was 2.72, striking out 53 batters over 43 innings.  Noesi then was called up to AA Trenton and pitched well over 98 innings, allowing 18 walks with 86 strikeouts.  The opposing batters in AA only hit .243 against him.

Noesi was eventually called up to AAA Scranton later this season and pitched in only three starts.  He fanned 14 batters over 18 innings, but did allow 23 hits. Batters hit .311 against him in these three starts.  Although Noesi’s numbers declined in AAA, it was only through 3 starts which makes the numbers difficult to gauge.

He has only pitched once this season so far in AAA last Saturday.  He allowed 2 Earned Runs over 5 innings and struck out 4 batters.  Since he pitched last Saturday, he is ready to start pitching today if necessary.  This could be the reason why he was called up over Andrew Brackman, who started yesterday’s game for AAA, and wouldn’t be ready to pitch again until this weekend.  On a side note, Brackman pitched 5 innings allowing 3 ER’s, 5 hits, 3 BB’s & 2 K’s.

The Yankees haven’t said whether they plan to use Noesi as a starter or a relief pitcher.  I would say start him.  Could it be any worse than Hughes right now?  Hughes will need to work on something, whether it is mechanics or just building arm strength.  Throw Hughes in the pen and allow Noesi to take his next start.  Either way, it should be something to keep an eye on.

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