Corey Kluber has launched eight games in the past two years and is one of several Yankees starters to have seasons of recovery, with fellow rookie Jameson Taillon and Luis Severino returning from their own injuries.
Like everyone looking at the Yankees’ starting lineup, Kluber knows that there will be questions until they show that they are healthy – and they can continue that way.
“It’s like any rotation in any year,” said Kluber in a Zoom conference call on Thursday. “You can feel as good as you want about it in January, February [and] March, but I think it’s all about that process of going through spring training and getting ready for a season and getting to the point when you arrive. And then stay consistent [as a rotation]. “
For that to happen, Kluber and Taillon in particular will have to prove that they can stay on the mountain.
Kluber, 34, was sidelined in 2019 because of a fractured right arm suffered when he was hit by a comebacker and lasted only one entry last season before a shoulder injury ended his year.
“I consider myself healthy right now,” said Kluber. “I am not rehabilitating anything or taking care of any persistent problems with anything. I’m basically in the normal stage of my off-season now, which is a good feeling: being out of rehab and just trying to prepare for the season. “
Before the past two years, Kluber had a period of five consecutive seasons in which he pitched at least 200 entries and had a combined ERA of 2.85. He finished in the top three in the AL Cy Young Award by voting four times and made three consecutive All-Star teams during that time.
The Yankees invested $ 11 million in Kluber in 2021, in an off-season in which they acted with caution, which means they are confident he can get back into shape. And they must know; Kluber was rehabilitated with the player’s director of health and performance, Eric Cressey, and worked with pitching coach Matt Blake when both were in Cleveland.
“I think that familiarity for me was definitely a good thing,” said Kluber. “Going through a few different things in the past two years, having that familiarity with Eric and Matt is something I considered when making that decision. ”
Kluber believes he may be the pitcher he was before the setbacks and doesn’t think he had to change anything after that.
“I don’t feel like I’m trying to do anything different because of the injuries,” said Kluber. “I feel that in 2019, I was very unbalanced with my delivery and other things and … during that summer I spent a lot of time correcting these problems where now, I feel the way I like to feel. I can go out there and play like I did when I was at my best. “
This peak was very high. Kluber helped take the Indians to three consecutive postseason postseason – and he was Cleveland’s ace every year.
He will join a team with a clear No. 1 at Gerrit Cole, but no one knows how the rest of the rotation will fit together.
Kluber is still trying to adjust his mindset to prepare to launch an entire season, instead of just recovering from an injury.
“It is a matter of overcoming the mental as opposed to the physical,” said Kluber. “I think what I feel like I’m working on now, in terms of preparing for the season, is how to get out of the rehab mentality – where you’re trying to work or feel things – to get to the point of trying to shoot. And I hope that when we have hitters in the box, I’m not worried about a delivery or anything like that. You are just trying to escape. “