The career of C.C. Sabathia breaks down into phases.
In his time as a New York Yankee, CC Sabathia has had three pretty distinct phases in his career; the Ace Phase, the Injury Phase, and the Reinvention Phase.
Phase 1, the Ace Phase, was from 2009-2012, when Sabathia, the Yankees $161 million-dollar man, was without question one of the top ten pitchers in baseball, with an overpowering fastball and a wipeout slider. Over that four-year span, Sabathia went 74-29 in 129 starts, throwing 905.0 innings to the tune of a 3.22 ERA, 1.178 WHIP, and 821 strikeouts. Per season, Sabathia averaged 18 wins, 226 innings pitched, 205 strikeouts, and 5.5 WAR, all stats that demonstrate the mark of a rotation’s number one.
From 2009-2011, Sabathia finished in the top four of AL Cy Young vote each season, and twice lead the league in wins. In the postseason, Sabathia helped pitched the Yankees to a World Series Championship in 2009, winning ALCS MVP with a 2-0 record and 1.13 ERA against the Angels, while holding his own in the World Series with a 3.29 ERA in 13.2 innings against the Phillies. Sabathia also put the team on his back in the 2012 ALDS, going 2-0 against the Orioles (including the series-clinching game five win) by only giving up three runs in 17.2 innings, striking out sixteen.
Then came Phase 2, the injury phase, which lasted from 2013-2015. As his velocity began to diminish, Sabathia’s body began to break down as well, with injuries ranging from a strained hamstring to right knee inflammation that eventually required microfracture surgery. On a personal level, Sabathia struggled as well, checking into rehab for alcoholism prior to the 2015 AL Wild Card Game, a game many thought Sabathia had a chance of starting. Over this time frame, Sabathia only made a total of 69 starts, going 23-27 with a 4.81 ERA, 1.402 WHIP, and 360 strikeouts in only 424.1 innings. In a far cry from his first four years with the Yankees, Sabathia’s per season averages from 2013-2015 plummeted to 8 wins, 120 strikeouts, 141 innings pitched, 23 starts, and 0.3 WAR per season.
By 2016, Sabathia realized that injuries and age would not allow him to overpower hitters like he used to in the past. Thus began Stage 3 of Sabathia’s career, the Reinvention Phase, where Sabathia began to utilize his change-up, slider, and cutter more than ever as he transformed from a thrower into a pitcher, relying less on a four-seam fastball and more on location and working both corners of the plate. Despite finishing with a 9-12 record, 2016 was where Sabathia began to show signs of life, finishing with a 3.91 ERA in 30 starts, the first time his ERA was below 4.00 since 2012. His 179.2 innings pitches were a 12.2 inning increase from 2015 and a whopping 133.2 inning increase from 2014. Additionally, Sabathia’s 1.319 WHIP, 8.6 hits/9 innings, and 1.1 HR/9 were all Sabathia’s lowest total since 2012, his final All-Star season. From 2013-2015, Sabathia totaled 0.8 WAR; in 2016 alone, he had almost quadruple the value, with 3.0 WAR.
Which brings us to the present, the 2017 season, where Sabathia’s evolution into a crafty lefty has been completed. By any measure, Sabathia had a fine all-around season, going 14-5 with a 3.69 ERA and 1.271 WHIP across twenty-seven starts, with 2.8 WAR, and a respectable 120 strikeouts in 148.2 innings pitched, good for 7.3 K/9. However, Sabathia was at his best when the Yankees needed him, as, including the postseason, he went 10-0 with a 1.69 ERA following a Yankees loss, and went 4-0 with a 1.04 ERA in four starts against the Red Sox, giving up a total of three runs in 26.0 innings.
This postseason, we have seen a mix of Phase 1 and Phase 3 Sabathia; a crafty lefty, who has emerged as the Yankees postseason ace, and most trusted started pitcher. In Game 2 of the ALDS with the Yankees down 1-0 in the series, Sabathia received a no-decision despite outdueling Indians ace Corey Kluber with 5.1 innings of two-run, five strikeout ball. In the deciding Game 5 of the series, Sabathia again matched up with Kluber and again delivered, outdueling the likely AL Cy Young Award Winner for the second time in a week with 4.1 innings of two-run, no walk, nine strikeout pitching. Game 3 of the ALCS was more of the same; with the Yankees back against the wall down 2-0 in the series against the Astros, Sabathia pitched the Yankees into the winner’s column with six scoreless innings against the Astros league-leading offense.
Going into this season, I expected Sabathia to be nothing more than a veteran innings eater for a young Yankees team. Instead, the big lefty has emerged as the 2009 version of himself, shutting down lineups in the postseason, and proving to the Yankees that they would be foolish not to bring him back in 2018, as clearly, he has something left in the tank.
