What Is Preston Claiborne's Ceiling?

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

On Monday, I took a quick peek back at Preston Claiborne's 2013 season.  He became the latest homegrown reliever to graduate to the show last year and as we all know now that graduation resulted in some very mixed results.  Long story short, Claiborne started off like a house on fire in May and June, pitched pretty well in July, then fell apart in August and September.  All together it added up to a 4.11/4.14/3.88 slash line, 19.6% K rate, 6.5% BB rate, and 0.2 fWAR in 50.1 IP.

Despite my multiple suggestions that the Yankees need to go out and acquire another relief pitcher, including the latest one from a few days ago, they seem prepared to head to camp with what they've got and sort out the back end of their relief corp in Spring Training.  That leaves Claiborne as the unofficial "7th Inning Guy" right now, at least I'm assuming it does since he was the 4th of the 4 guys Joe mentioned by name when asked about the bullpen last month.  That's not a bad spot to be for a player who never popped up on any top prospect lists while he worked his way through the system and never had his stuff talked about by scouts anywhere near as much as a Dellin Betances or a Jose Ramirez or even a Mark Montgomery.  The question now becomes can Claiborne hold onto that spot this year?  And looking further down the road, can he develop into anything more than a middle reliever?

Monday Mid-Morning Food For Thought: Who Is The Real Preston Claiborne?

Preston Claiborne's first 2 months as a Major Leaguer in 2013:

24.2 IP, 19 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 20 K

Preston Claiborne's last 2 months of the season in 2013:

15.1 IP, 23 H, 15 ER, 7 BB, 14 K

If you've got your calculators handy, that's a 1.46 ERA/3.12 FIP split from May and June compared to an 8.80/6.98 split in August and September.  Claiborne was due to regress after his unsustainably hot start last year, and regress he did, but I don't think anybody anticipated his finish to the season being as disastrous as it was.  He's the de facto "7th Inning Guy" right now and the question is what type of pitcher will he be in that role?  While a repeat of either one of those extremes is unlikely, where his 2014 performance falls in the middle of them is a big unknown.  Something shaded closer to the bad side of the extreme might not be good enough for a regular middle relief role.

Lack Of Logic In The Claiborne Demotion

The Yankees had to make yet another roster move yesterday to clear a 25-man spot for the newly signed Mark Reynolds.  In a move that came as a surprise, it was Preston Claiborne who got sent down.  With rosters expanding in 2 weeks, it's not the end of the world for him.  Claiborne will be called back up and he should re-assume the role he had carved out as top middle inning guy.  Still, the decision to send Claiborne down when there were other more worthy candidates doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Preston Claiborne Also Onboard The Train To Regression Town

(Courtesy of the AP)

Bullpen issues seem to be a hot topic in Yankeeland these days, much hotter than they were earlier in the season.  From Boone Logan not getting lefties out as often as a lefty specialist should to Mariano Rivera blowing 3 straight saves to Joba Chamberlain ceasing to exist as a viable medium-leverage-and-up relief option, the Yankee 'pen hasn't been the strong, deep unit it was months back.  This is partly because the rotation hasn't been very good either and the bullpen has had to take on more innings, but it's also because some guys, mostly the young guys, have regressed from their pre-summer levels of performance.  Last week we took a look at Adam Warren's rough trip down the ladder, this week it's former walk-less wonder Preston Claiborne who's under the microscope.

The Preston Claiborne Formula

(Courtesy of Howard Simmons/NY Daily News)

Preston Claiborne has been quite the unexpected surprise for the Yankees this season.  He's gone from relatively unknown fringe prospect to high-leverage bullpen contributor in just over a month, and he's the owner of one of the more notable current streaks on the team.  In 18.1 IP over his 13 appearances, Claiborne has still yet to walk a batter this season.  For any rookie pitcher with any level of command, that's impressive and it's what has helped push Claiborne up the leverage ladder as he continues to work effectively and earn Joe's trust.  How is a player who was so off the prospect radar, who didn't get nearly the ink that a host of other relievers with "more electric" stuff than he, doing what Claiborne is doing right now?  It's actually pretty simple.

The One Good Thing To Come Out Of Last Night

This:

The good news? Preston Claiborne is using "When The Levee Breaks" as his entrance music. Excellent choice.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughSL) May 15, 2013

I've already signed my application forms to join the Preston Claiborne bandwagon based solely on his performance since being called up.  The kid still hasn't given up a run in 5 appearances and has looked really good in every outing, with 4 strikeouts and not a single walk on his ledger.  He's throwing strikes, attacking hitters, everything you want to see from a young reliever.  Now that I know he has excellent taste in music and comes out to a super badass song for his entrance music, I'm putting a rush on submitting those forms.  I need to be officially recognized as a Preston Claiborne fan.

Preston Claiborne, Come On Down...

(Courtesy of the AP)

You're the next contestant on "Unheralded Yankee Minor League Relief Pitcher Breaks Into to The Show."  After Joba Chamberlain was put on the DL yesterday, the buzz was that Mark Montgomery would get the call up to take his place in the bullpen, buzz that only grew when Cash name dropped him among others yesterday afternoon.  One of those others was Preston Claiborne, and based on a round of tweets from teammates this morning it's all but confirmed that Claiborne is going to be the one to get that call.

Claiborne has been a steady fixture in the Yankee system since being drafted in 2010, but comes with none of the hype and fanfare of someone like Montgomery or Joba back in '07.  If you aren't familiar with Claiborne and his body of work, feel free to get brought up to speed after the jump.