From obscurity, Cotham making his case in Yankees’ bullpen

There’s a pretty good chance that I’ve seriously underestimated Caleb Cotham. But I’m definitely not the only one.

Not invited to big league camp. Opened this season as a 27-year-old in Double-A. Didn’t lock down so much as a Triple-A job until mid-summer. Even then he was overshadowed by multiple bullpen prospects who were on the 40-man roster and already had a cup of coffee or two in the big leagues.

Cotham was just a somewhat familiar name that was easy glance over if you ever checked a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre box score.

Now he’s actually getting some fairly important big league outs down the stretch, and he threw 1.2 hitless last night.

“Realistically, yeah, I think I was off the radar,” Cotham said after he got a big strikeout to end the seventh inning on Saturday. “And I’m comfortable with that. I was comfortable that I knew I had to pitch and perform to get an opportunity. Just trying to earn that every day, the right to keep pitching and the right to have them give me a look. It’s kind of what I’ve had to do my whole life, so I’m comfortable with it. It’s more rewarding when you do work for it and get an opportunity than if you feel like you were kind of gifted it. I’m fortunate to be here.”

Six years after he was drafted, it’s easy to forget Cotham was a fifth-round pick out of Vanderbilt back in 2009. He wasn’t organizational filler. He was taken one round after Adam Warren and well ahead of both Shane Greene and Bryan Mitchell.

Early knee and shoulder issues, though, quickly threw Cotham’s professional career off track. It wasn’t until 2012 that he had anything resembling a full season in the minors.

By that point, Warren had already reached the big leagues, and Cotham was stuck in A-ball just trying to get some traction. The two years after that, there were other injury issues to go with disappointing numbers. But that was when Cotham was still working as a starter.

He was a full-time reliever by the time he got to spring training this year, and his stuff has played up out of the bullpen.

Having gotten rid of his changeup, Cotham’s strikeout-to-walk ratio soared behind a three-pitch mix of fastball, slider and curveball. The slider can be manipulated to be more like a cutter from time to time. The curveball is used to mix speeds a little more.

“I think it’s more in line with my personality in general,” Cotham said. “(Being) able to get after it a little bit more and be a little more aggressive just in mindset; attacking guys knowing you can empty the tank on most hitters because you’re not going to probably face them again. It’s just been fun. Quick turnaround. Got to pitch more.”

The Yankees took notice. His first Major League call-up came in late July, and his debut was good enough — faced eight batters, struck out four of them — that Joe Girardi specifically asked to have him back when the Yankees had to make a move a few days later. Looking for a young reliever to get some key outs these days, it was Cotham who was called on for the final out of Saturday’s seventh inning, and he got a strikeout right in between strikeouts by Justin Wilson and Dellin Betances.

“He’s done a pretty good job of throwing strikes,” Girardi explained. “We brought him in because of the type of stuff he had against that hitter, kind of matching it up, and that’s why we brought him in.”

It’s hard to definitively say that any of the up-and-down relievers has really established himself this season. Branden Pinder has been good in some low-leverage situations. Nick Rumbelow has shown some flashes. James Pazos has pitched well from the left side. But Cotham has put himself firmly in that group as well. He’s thrown strikes and gotten strikeouts. It’s a little harder to underestimate him these days.

Still a long way from a proven big league reliever, but no longer overshadowed by the other young relievers around him.

“If that’s something that’s bothering you, you have problems already,” Cotham said. “I just try to do what I do and do it really well, then I just let everything take care of itself, really. I can’t worry about what anyone’s doing. I want everyone here to succeed, and I want myself to succeed. Let’s all do it together.”

Associated Press photos

The post From obscurity, Cotham making his case in Yankees’ bullpen appeared first on The LoHud Yankees Blog.

from lloydcurry1 http://ift.tt/1V8qhWz