A crafty move has been made by the Bronx Bombers to strengthen their bullpen, by landing a confident and boastful reliever.
MLB.com reports:
The Yankees announced today that they have signed RHP Adam Ottavino ("ah-tah-VEE-noh") to a three-year contract through the 2021 season.
Ottavino, 33, went 6-4 with six saves and a 2.43 ERA (77.2IP, 41H, 25R/21ER, 36BB, 112K, 5HR) in 75 relief appearances for the Colorado Rockies in 2018. His 112 strikeouts out of the bullpen ranked second in the NL and fourth in the Majors, and set a new Rockies single-season record for strikeouts by a reliever. Among NL relievers, he was fifth with a .158 opponents’ batting average (41-for-260), fifth with a 36.2% strikeout rate (112K/309BF), tied for fifth in appearances and tied for sixth in innings pitched.
In 366 games (three starts) across parts of eight Major League seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals (2010) and the Rockies (2012-18), the New York City-born right-hander is 17-20 with 17 saves and a 3.68 ERA (413.0IP, 169ER). Prior to making his Major League debut, he pitched for Team Italy in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. He made his postseason debut in 2018, allowing 2ER in 3.2IP over three appearances with Colorado.
A native of Park Slope, Brooklyn, Ottavino grew up playing in the 78th Precinct Youth Council Little League before earning all-state honors at the Berkeley Carroll School, and then playing collegiately at Northeastern University. His signing gives the Yankees three relievers born in New York State, as he joins New York City’s Dellin Betances and Latham-born Tommy Kahnle. Only once in the last 53 years (since 1966) have three New York-born pitchers appeared for the Yankees in the same season, when in 1993, John Habyan (36 games), Paul Gibson (20 games) and Neal Heaton (18 games) all pitched for the club.
Read more coverage on Ottavino HERE.
Ottavino will wear No. 0 for the Yankees, becoming the first player in franchise history to sport the uniform number. He also believes that he could have struck out Babe Ruth every single time.
Now while Ottavino is certainly no Mariano Rivera, let alone the greatest player in MLB history we all like to call the Bambino, at least he comes to the Bronx with some swagger and is that really such a bad thing?
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