New Pitching Coach Rothchild to Work with Burnett Next Month

The Yankees appear as though they will be relying heavily on AJ Burnett to have a season like 2009 and not like 2010 as GM Brian Cashman has repeatedly said. So with the Yankees being so dependent on the success of Burnett, new pitching coach Larry Rothchild has said he will spend a week to ten days with Burnett in his Monkton, Md. home next month to get a feel for Burnett as a person and pitcher.

The Yankees are relying on Burnett to be their number three starter next season after barely putting up numbers that would resemble even a number five starter. He posted a 5.26 ERA in 1862/3 innings. It proved a far drop from the 4.04 ERA in 207 innings he posted in 2009. Many times Burnett looked lost on the mound, his fastball sailing to the backstop and his devastating 12-6 curveball bouncing in the dirt. His mechanics were atrocious for most of the season and his head never seemed to be in the right place.

"Mechanics are everything for him," Cashman, the Yankees' general manager, said of Burnett. "Getting it down pat is the challenge. I know our guys know what they have to do, and I know A.J. is up for the challenge. He's committed to doing it."

My feeling is, and I've repeatedly said this to anyone that has tried to throw Burnett under the bus, that Burnett will turn it around this season. Burnett has arguably the best stuff in the game today with that absolutely filthy 12-6 curveball, but his head is sometimes in the wrong place. He is a fantastic pitcher when he is right, and as evidenced by this past season, god awful when he isn't; there doesn't seem to be an in between.

I was just as surprised as the next guy when the Yankees hired Rothchild to take over for the departed Dave Eiland - I thought it was a mistake to fire Eiland in the first place, but that's neither here nor there - but after careful consideration and some stat checking, this could be a good move for the Yanks.

The specific statistic that drew me in was the strikeout totals: During Rothschild's Cubs tenure, the team's pitching staff led the majors in strikeouts (11,604). That is a big thing for the Yankees, especially for AJ Burnett and Joba Chamberlain, as Rothchild will be held responsible for turning around Burnett and Chamberlain, and since both men rely heavily on the strikeout, Rothchild could bring that back for them.