By the way, Matt Blake is returning as Yankees pitching coach
New York Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake, pitcher Carlos Rodón and New York Yankees Manager Aaron Boone at press conference during the New York Yankees introducing pitcher Carlos Rodón to media at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York on Dec. 22, 2022 Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
The Yankees recently quietly re-signed pitching coach Matt Blake to a new three-year contract.
How quiet was it? No one knew until Blake showed up at Carlos Rodon's news conference at Yankee Stadium on Thursday.
Or, more accurately, no one knew until eagle-eyed reporters spotted a placard with Blake’s name on the dais along with ones for Rodon, his wife, Ashley, agent Scott Boras and various Yankees officials.
The Yankees, who have been busy with moves such as re-signing general manager Brian Cashman and Aaron Judge and signing Rodon, hadn’t announced that Blake was returning.
The vast majority of the conversation on Thursday rightfully was about Rodon’s journey from a pitcher who was non-tendered by the White Sox just two years ago to one who commanded a six-year, $162 million contract from the Yankees.
But there was a little time left over to ponder the journey of Blake, who went from a risky Cashman hire three years ago to someone the Yankees just had to keep — even if they kept his re-upping under the radar.
Blake had never been a pitching coach at any level when Cashman plucked him from the Cleveland front office.
Blake’s resume included titles such as director of pitching development, pitching coordinator, area scout (for the Yankees before he went to Cleveland) and high school coach.
But Cashman wanted an analytics-based approach to replace veteran pitching coach Larry Rothschild. Three years later, Cashman said Blake’s performance has “validated” the unconventional hire.
“I’ve been around a long time,” Cashman said. “I’ve got exposure to a lot of different talented people in this game. That served me well because I think if you were maybe a less experienced general manager, you wouldn’t take a risk like this. But I thought the risk was worth the reward. I felt the measurables with what he brought to the table would serve one important piece to an overall pitching puzzle. I thought he would benefit us, so you place the bet and then you hope it pays off.
“I feel like he hit the ground running and validated us from the start. That doesn’t mean that there’s not adjustments, growing pains, new experiences. But whatever has been thrown his way and whatever those new experiences were there, he’s been so even-keeled and level-headed.”
Cashman delighted on Thursday in telling a story about Blake’s first big recruiting trip right after he was hired. The Yankees were wooing free agent Gerrit Cole, and the righthander asked Blake, “So how many pitching visits on the mound have you had professionally?”
The answer was none — but whatever Blake said to Cole didn’t prevent the All-Star from signing a nine-year, $324 million contract.
Said Cashman: “One of the things I can tell you from my perspective that resonated in [Blake’s] interview was that part of coaching is connecting with your players, and I felt like his personality was set up in a way that the connection would be easy. That aspect was important. Then the focus is more on the content, what content he had. Despite maybe not having the on-field in-game experience, the content that he was bringing with his personality traits would serve him well and allow him to be able to get that fire hose up and let all that information flow to our starters.”
Blake said he considered leaving the Yankees only for a fleeting moment. He didn’t seem perturbed that the team didn’t announce his new deal or that he worked without a signed contract until the new one was done, just as Cashman did before the Yankees announced his new four-year pact on Dec. 5.
“Obviously, any time your contract expires, you start to think about what else could be out there,” Blake said. “But I really enjoyed the first three years and I feel like there was a lot of growth amongst myself, the group, the [organization]. It feels like there’s a lot of things we still have left to be done, but we’ve made some good headway just as far as our processes go and getting buy-in from the players and myself gaining experience and kind of understanding what worked at this level and what doesn’t and continue trimming the fat around our process.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
