Jonathan Loaisiga struggling to regain his 2021 form

The Yankees have had one of the best bullpens in baseball this season, which also was the case in 2021.

But one of their standouts from the 2021 bullpen hasn’t had anything close to the same impact this year.

After being charged with four runs and allowing four hits in two-thirds of an inning in the 5-0 loss in Game 2 of Sunday’s doubleheader against the White Sox, Jonathan Loaisiga saw his ERA bump to 7.02 in 18 appearances.

This after recording a 2.17 ERA in 57 games in 2021.. After allowing three homers and 16 walks in 70 2/3 innings last season, he’s given up three homers and walked 10 in 16 2/3 innings in 2022.

“It’s tough when you go through a season like last year, where you’re very consistent, very effective,” Loaisiga said through his interpreter. “You have to trust in yourself, you have to trust in your pitches. Letting the team down in certain situations is definitely tough. It’s a tough moment. At the same time, you have to turn the page quickly. Being a pitcher like I am [a high-leverage reliever], you have to turn the page quickly and focus.”

Loaisiga mentioned the word “trust” when it comes to his pitches, something pitching coach Matt Blake referenced last week after a poor  outing in Chicago against the White Sox.

“He's just not being as aggressive with his fastball,” Blake said. “I feel like he’s still kind of working through his confidence, like any of these guys, [in] just trusting his stuff over the plate.”  

To Blake and the Yankees, Loaisiga’s stuff doesn’t appear all that much different from what it was last season. According to one rival American League scout, he hasn’t seen a dramatic contrast either.

“Stuff-wise, honestly, it doesn’t look much different,” said the scout, who has seen Loaisiga since his minor-league days. “But you can see he doesn’t have the same trust in his pitches, especially the sinker, and that’s got to be a huge factor.”

Loaisiga’s sinker, which routinely hits 98 or 99 mph on the radar gun, has not been the same in terms of generating swings and misses, even though the velocity has been fine.  

“And when he’s not getting that [swings and misses], it’s going to affect his confidence,” the evaluator continued. “His stuff still looks good overall. I would certainly take him. This [his struggles] strikes me as the typical streaky reliever issues they all occasionally suffer through . . . It’s cliché, but it always comes down to consistently throwing strikes. He did it last year; not [as much] this year.”

Loaisiga said he he’s been working on things “mechanically” in order to attack the strike zone with more consistency.

“Making an adjustment with my body trying to stay back more, trying to have more leverage on the pitches,” he said. “We thought that adjustment would [give me] better command with all of my pitches.”

By all indications, Loaisiga is healthy. Just take his sinker velocity, for instance.

A sinker that averaged 99.16 mph last August and 98.79 in September averaged 97.51 mph this April and 98.15 mph this month. That's up a tick from where it was in May 2021, when it was 97.90.  

“I feel like his velo is kind of trending back up as it’s starting to get warmer,” Blake said last week.  “I still think that he’s just got to get back to being confident and trusting his stuff a little bit more. The talent’s still there, and he shows flashes of it. Just hasn’t been quite as consistent as he was last year.”