The Scout's View: Yankees

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Posted: Wednesday October 20, 1999 06:07 PM

Sports Illustrated asked major league scouts who have closely followed the playoff teams to help prepare these reports on the four participants in the League Championship Series. The scouts were promised anonymity in exchange for their candor. Here's what they revealed.

Lineup

Chuck Knoblauch 2B
Can hit the ball out of the park, but sometimes falls in love with home run stroke.Will chase the ball up in the zone. At his best when deep in the count. A liability defensively, especially his arm (14 throwing errors).

Derek Jeter SS
The Yankees' glue. Has great plate coverage. Must throw his balance off by working him up and down, inside and out.

Paul O'Neill RF
Slowed down defensively. Send the runner on anything hit to his left or right. One of the best in baseball at fouling off pitches. Tough in the clutch.

Bernie Williams CF
Can play poorly or great. Streaky switch-hitter who's much better from left side. Has trouble with slider under his hands and fastballs that tail back over the inside corner. Never seen him throw a guy out.

Tino Martinez 1B
In a short series he's either red-hot or ice-cold. Throw him hard breaking balls in. Will chase the ball up.

Chili Davis/Darryl Strawberry DH
Davis is a notorious low-ball hitter from the left side. Anything above the waist, he's an out. His bat has slowed. Strawberry will almost always chase balls away.

Ricky Ledee LF
Occasional power. Pretty good idea of the strike zone. Decent outfielder with O.K. arm.

Joe Girardi/Jorge Posada C
Girardi, the better defender, is likely to play more because of the emphasis on pitching and defense. He's good at bunting and the hit-and-run. Posada seems to lack confidence after losing playing time to Girardi. He'll chase bad pitches.

Scott Brosius 3B
Tremendous defensively. Pitchers tend to forget about him offensively -- a big mistake. Likes fastballs, especially up. Susceptible to hard breaking balls.

Bench

OF Chad Curtis is a good defensive player, though he can inexplicably screw up a routine play. Chases high pitches. 1B-DH-C Jim Leyritz has come up big in the past, but now he's playing mostly on reputation. Will also chase the ball up. The more he plays, the less you like him. 3B Clay Bellinger is used only as a pinch runner, SS Luis Sojo not at all.

Rotation

Orlando Hernandez, RHP
Very susceptible to lefthanded batters. Eats up righthanders with variety of breaking balls and four-seam fastballs up and away. Fields very well and will display a good pickoff move.

Andy Pettitte, LHP
A big-game pitcher who makes the most of an 88-mph fastball -- for instance, will sink it and cut it. Small slider is deceptive to a lefthanded hitter. Has a good changeup. Can beat you in many ways.

Roger Clemens, RHP
Make him throw as many pitches as possible. One thing he's shown this year is inability to throw strikes with all of his pitches. Velocity (can get as high as 96 mph with the heater) is still the same. Rocket has a tendency to get rattled in big games, letting the moment get the best of him.

David Cone, RHP
Another big-game pitcher with mental toughness. Adds and subtracts speeds on his fastball as well as anyone. Great slider. Good splitter. Tends to throw a lot of pitches. Will give all he has, even if it's only for five innings.

Bullpen

RH closer Mariano Rivera has well-above-average fastball; can run it up in zone. Cut fastball takes lefties out. A strike-throwing machine. Unbelievable confidence. RH Jeff Nelson has periods of wildness. Take pitches and make him throw strikes. Has sinking fastball and sweeping slider. LH Mike Stanton is overrated. Doesn't throw a lot of strikes and is vulnerable to righthanded batters. Good breaking ball. Fastball is out of the zone more than it's in. RH Ramiro Mendoza is the perfect guy to settle things down, whether early or late. Throws strikes with sinker. Would be No. 3 starter on many teams. LH Ed Yarnall has a good breaking ball, deceptive delivery. Rookie not likely to be used in key spot. RH Hideki Irabu, spotty starter during the season, is long relief man.

How To Beat Them

The Yankees work the count and know how to hit with two strikes. They can play long ball; they can play little ball. Opponents' starters have to set the tone, find some way to shut New York down. How? Change speeds. Mess up the Yankees' timing.

Issue date: October 18, 1999

 

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