Series Preview: Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees

Today the Rays head to New York to take on the Yankees.  The Rays are fresh off a series victory over the Boston Red Sox and are winners of four of their last five games. The bats woke up yesterday afternoon and will need to build on their performance. The Rays get to face another left handed starter. They are 4-1 against lefties so far this season..

The matchups:

Friday: Matt Moore vs CC Sabathia

Saturday: TBD (Matt Andriese?) vs Masahiro Tanaka

Sunday: Drew Smyly vs Michael Pineda

Yesterday the Rays were forced to burn Erasmo Ramirez, so we'll likely see Matt Andriese called up from Durham to see the start on Saturday. This isn't a great turn of events for the Rays, but they'll seek to claim their third straight series victory.

Yankees Starting Pitchers

Yankees Starters Last 3+ Years Versus Opposite Handed Batters:

Player	IP	K%	BB%	HR%	AVE	OBP	SLG	wOBA	ERA	FIP
CC Sabathia	338.1	16.8%	7.2%	15.9%	0.292	0.348	0.490	0.361	4.87	4.79
Masahiro Tanaka	158.2	23.1%	4.0%	17.4%	0.223	0.258	0.389	0.281	3.18	3.46
Michael Pineda	124.1	22.1%	4.1%	11.5%	0.251	0.282	0.411	0.299	3.26	2.98

Sabathia doesn't have the elite velocity that once made him one of the best pitchers in the league as his fastball is averaging just 88.11 MPH in 2016. The Rays right handed bats will look to feast tonight.

Tanaka and Pineda are pitchers that don't walk many batters. The Rays left handed bats will have to be aggressive in the zone on pitches they can handle.

Yankees Bullpen

The Yankees have potentially one of the most dominating back end of the bullpens in MLB history. Luckily for the Rays, Aroldis Chapman is still serving his 30-game suspension and will not be available this series. Miller and Betances are both rested as they have had two days off and only pitched once in the last five.

Yankees Relievers vs Right Handed Hitters Last 3+ Years:

Player	IP	K%	BB%	HR%	AVE	OBP	SLG	wOBA	ERA	FIP
Andrew Miller	108.2	38.8%	9.5%	9.7%	0.137	0.244	0.206	0.213	1.74	2.20
Dellin Betances	94.2	41.8%	10.7%	13.0%	0.160	0.260	0.266	0.243	2.38	2.41
Ivan Nova	125.1	21.3%	7.4%	15.0%	0.254	0.326	0.418	0.328	4.60	4.26
Chasen Shreve	48.1	24.0%	12.0%	18.9%	0.199	0.296	0.394	0.301	3.35	5.32
Branden Pinder	18.0	23.7%	11.8%	15.0%	0.224	0.316	0.409	0.312	3.00	4.80
Kirby Yates	41.2	25.0%	6.8%	14.9%	0.236	0.301	0.415	0.314	4.75	4.28
John Barbato	6.0	28.6%	4.8%	0.0%	0.105	0.190	0.105	0.151	1.50	2.04

Miller and Betances are the guys that you don't want to be facing if you're down late in a game. Ivan Nova is in the process of transitioning to the bullpen and will likely see an increase in productivity with a lessened workload.

Yankees Relievers vs Left Handed Hitters Last 3+ Years:

Player	IP	K%	BB%	HR%	AVE	OBP	SLG	wOBA	ERA	FIP
Andrew Miller	52.0	45.7%	6.2%	16.7%	0.208	0.258	0.308	0.254	2.77	1.42
Dellin Betances	91.1	38.6%	7.8%	4.4%	0.162	0.235	0.221	0.209	0.89	1.49
Ivan Nova	134.2	14.1%	7.6%	9.4%	0.286	0.357	0.409	0.337	4.01	4.19
Chasen Shreve	28.2	28.6%	10.3%	7.4%	0.259	0.347	0.373	0.321	1.57	2.99
Branden Pinder	10.2	15.4%	11.5%	10.0%	0.348	0.423	0.609	0.436	4.22	4.53
Kirby Yates	20.0	27.1%	14.6%	21.9%	0.272	0.385	0.568	0.401	6.30	7.32
John Barbato	3.0	35.7%	14.3%	50.0%	0.250	0.357	0.583	0.401	6.00	6.04

Chasen Shreve joins Miller and Betances as very effective options against lefties out of the bullpen. The rest of the bullpen shouldn't see many lefties if things are going according to plan for the Yankees.

Yankees Lineup:

The Yankees have started the season putting up a .241/.322/.387, .315 wOBA, 102 wRC+ line to start the season. The Yankees biggest offensive attribute is their 10.2% walk rate (4^th in MLB).

Starlin Castro has started off his tenure with the Yankees hot as he's posted a .291/.339/.473, .353 wOBA, 130 wRC+. HE is joined by Carlos Beltran (.296/.304/.574 .372 wOBA, 144 wRC+), Brett Gardner (.300/.440/.425, .390 wOBA, 157 wRC+), and Brian McCann (.275/.383/.450, .370 wOBA, 142 wRC+) as Yankee hitters off to good starts.

Yankees Batters vs Right Handed Pitchers Last 3+ Seasons:

Player	PA	HR	SB	BB%	K%	AVE	OBP	SLG	wOBA	wRC+
Jacoby Ellsbury	1209	23	85	7.2%	14.0%	0.281	0.334	0.415	0.327	105
Brett Gardner	1351	34	60	9.5%	19.6%	0.264	0.341	0.420	0.335	112
Alex Rodriguez	580	32	4	11.2%	24.5%	0.243	0.331	0.470	0.347	119
Mark Teixeira	761	48	2	10.9%	23.0%	0.230	0.319	0.488	0.348	122
Brian McCann	1122	54	0	9.5%	15.7%	0.234	0.315	0.433	0.326	106
Carlos Beltran	1143	46	3	8.3%	15.9%	0.288	0.348	0.485	0.361	131
Starlin Castro	1464	33	17	4.3%	17.0%	0.267	0.305	0.391	0.304	91
Chase Headley	1296	25	15	10.3%	23.5%	0.246	0.334	0.366	0.313	99
Didi Gregorius	977	23	8	7.1%	14.2%	0.265	0.325	0.407	0.319	99
Aaron Hicks	674	10	19	9.2%	20.6%	0.206	0.283	0.309	0.266	64
Dustin Ackley	928	26	7	7.2%	15.1%	0.249	0.305	0.409	0.313	101
Ronald Torreyes	16	0	0	6.3%	6.3%	0.429	0.467	0.643	0.472	214
Austin Romine	122	1	1	5.7%	24.6%	0.182	0.235	0.255	0.222	34.000

The top of the Yankees lineup features speedy outfielders that do their best work against right handed pitching. The middle of the lineup has a lot of power that can put up runs in a hurry if you hurt yourself by walking hitters through use of the small right field porch.

Yankees Batters vs Left Handed Pitchers Last 3+ Seasons:

Player	PA	HR	SB	BB%	K%	AVE	OBP	SLG	wOBA	wRC+
Jacoby Ellsbury	623	9	31	7.5%	18.1%	0.266	0.333	0.367	0.313	95
Brett Gardner	600	8	7	9.3%	23.0%	0.263	0.340	0.396	0.326	105
Alex Rodriguez	273	10	6	17.6%	22.3%	0.243	0.388	0.436	0.359	128
Mark Teixeira	332	11	1	16.6%	15.7%	0.217	0.358	0.379	0.325	106
Brian McCann	400	17	0	5.5%	18.5%	0.256	0.313	0.431	0.327	107
Carlos Beltran	493	16	2	5.3%	17.8%	0.239	0.278	0.414	0.297	87
Starlin Castro	447	4	3	6.0%	17.9%	0.263	0.309	0.368	0.298	87
Chase Headley	523	12	3	8.2%	19.9%	0.257	0.329	0.400	0.322	105
Didi Gregorius	353	1	1	6.8%	20.1%	0.215	0.284	0.272	0.253	53
Aaron Hicks	277	10	7	12.3%	24.9%	0.260	0.350	0.426	0.342	117
Dustin Ackley	313	2	5	6.7%	21.4%	0.225	0.282	0.305	0.265	68
Ronald Torreyes	6	0	0	0.0%	33.3%	0.333	0.333	0.500	0.358	139
Austin Romine	54	0	0	3.7%	24.1%	0.269	0.296	0.385	0.298	87

The Yankees are much weaker offensively against southpaws. Their addition of Aaron Hicks from the Minnesota Twins is one of their better offensive options against lefties. Alex Rodriguez has gotten off to a slow start and it would be nice to see his early season struggles continue.

Rays batters look to take advantage of the short porch in right.

Yesterday the Rays righties took advantage of the Green Monster at Fenway Park in putting up their best offensive performance of the season. Tonight they'll look to continue their offensive breakout against a pitcher they should be able to put up some runs against.

Tonight's game has potential for a delay and possible postponement. Unlike with the series in Baltimore ,this would be an advantage to the Rays as they burned Erasmo Ramirez yesterday and would be saved from having to call up Andriese for Saturday's start if the game is postponed. The Yankees typically call games very early, so we shouldn't see a situation where Moore gets warmed up and not available tomorrow.

In the final two games of the series the Rays left handed bats will look to take advantage of the cozy right field seats against two good pitchers that limit walks. They will need to be aggressive on pitches in the zone to be effective.

UPDATE: Hype Train Rolls Into New York.

BREAKING: #Rays are calling up top prospect LHP Blake Snell to start Saturday vs. #Yankees

— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) April 22, 2016

The Rays will throw three left handed starting pitching against the Yankees this weekend. The rookie LHP Blake Snell will make his major league debut and likely be sent down after the game. He could stay up the year and the Rays would have the extra year of control, but he'd be subject to Super 2 status.