Yankees prospect Chance Adams will make big-league debut Saturday vs. Red Sox
Chance Adams works out as Larry Rothschild watches on the first day of Spring Training at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa Florida. Feb. 13, 2018 Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
BOSTON — The Yankees at last are giving Chance a, well, you know.
Chance Adams, considered one of the top two pitching prospects in the organization before seeing his stock plummet during the last year, will make his big-league debut against the Red Sox on Saturday at Fenway Park.
Though the 23-year-old righthander has pitched better of late, his performance — he’s 3-5 with a 4.50 ERA in 21 starts — was not what earned him a promotion. He got the start because the Yankees are in desperation mode.
“Obviously, we’re a little depleted here of late,” Aaron Boone said Friday.
J.A. Happ, initially scheduled to start Saturday, went on the disabled list Thursday with hand, foot and mouth disease. Luis Cessa was slated to pitch in Happ’s place but worked 3 2⁄3 innings in relief in Thursday night’s 15-7 loss. Justus Sheffield, the club’s top pitching prospect, started Thursday afternoon for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Domingo German and Jonathan Loaisiga, both of whom have started games for the Yankees this season, are on the minor-league disabled list.
After a rough start, Adams has posted a 3.72 ERA in his last 10 outings. That includes his most recent game, Monday in Rochester, when he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and allowed two hits in 7 1⁄3 scoreless innings.
“He’s coming off a really strong start, so hopefully he can give us a quality outing and give us a chance tomorrow,” Boone said. “Looking forward to him getting here . . . He’s been pitching well here over an extended period.”
Adams faces quite a task in his first big-league start, facing the explosive Red Sox.
“It’s pretty crazy,” he told the Times Tribune in Scranton before departing Friday afternoon. “It’s the Red Sox. So again, just got to out there and . . . just got to focus and know the hitters and just go about my business.”
In another move Friday, the Yankees optioned Cessa and recalled reliever Tommy Kahnle, who left Scranton early Friday afternoon to rejoin the team in Boston. He pitched a scoreless bottom of the eighth Friday night.
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