West Islip's Nick Tropeano is feeling good and has a chance to make Yankees' roster

TAMPA, Fla. — There is an opportunity here for Nick Tropeano, and any non-roster invitee to big-league camp can’t ask for much more than that.

But there’s this, too, for the native of West Islip who pitched for Stony Brook University:

“Growing up a Yankees fan, you develop some type of love for the team,” Tropeano said this past week. “Just to be here with an opportunity to play for the team is a great feeling.”

What’s most important, however, is that the 29-year-old feels great physically.

It’s been a while since he has.

Tropeano, a fifth-round pick by the Astros in 2011 out of Stony Brook, missed the entire 2017 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. And it’s been a long road back to feeling like the pitcher who showed plenty of promise before the operation, a pitcher who went 3-2 with a 3.56 ERA in 13 games (all starts) for the Angels in 2016.

Tropeano was 5-6 with a 4.74 ERA in 14 starts in 2018 and struggled pretty much all of last year, going 0-1 with a 9.88 ERA in three games (one start) with the Angels and 4-6 with a 5.87 ERA in 17 games (15 starts) with Triple-A Salt Lake.

But finally, at last, Tropeano feels right.

“Health is good,” he said.

The timing could not be better. He came into camp with an outside chance to grab a bullpen spot — perhaps the swingman role — but suddenly finds himself under consideration for one of the two open rotation spots. James Paxton will miss at least April as he recovers from February back surgery and Luis Severino is done for the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery on Thursday.

Jordan Montgomery is almost guaranteed to get one of those spots. He again pitched well Saturday, throwing two scoreless innings in a 5-2 split-squad victory over the Red Sox in Fort Myers. But the other spot is a wide-open competition.

Prospects Deivi Garcia, Mike King and Clarke Schmidt are among those who will get serious looks, though Jonathan Loaisiga probably is the favorite as of now. But there are plenty of others in the mix, Tropeano included.

“My main goal right now in spring training is to show them I’m healthy,” said Tropeano, who allowed two runs, one hit and a walk with two strikeouts in 1 2⁄3 innings against the Red Sox on Saturday in his third outing.

“I want to contribute to this team, whether it be as a starter, in a relief role, at the beginning of the season, in the middle of the season, the end of the season, whatever it may be. This is an All-Star roster, let’s get real. I would love to just contribute at any point at any time.”

He had some other options, but once the Yankees expressed an interest in the early part of the offseason, that was good enough for him.

“Obviously, the last few years, my health has been an issue,” Tropeano said. “[There was] interest from the Yankees from the beginning of the offseason. That gave me a little boost of confidence that they were willing to take a chance on me and, obviously, being from my hometown, it’s a little eye-opening. You get that blood flowing once you get that phone call.”

Though the results Saturday were not as good as in Tropeano’s previous outing — he allowed one hit and struck out one in two scoreless innings against the Blue Jays on Tuesday in Dunedin — that wasn’t at the forefront of his mind.

“Like I said, in spring training, that’s my main goal is just to bounce back,” Tropeano said before his start Tuesday. “The results will be there, but my focus [now] is just bouncing back, feeling good between starts and just showing them that I can recover.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.