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Has Wang Hit the Wall?

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Author: Brian Kevin Williams

Chien-Ming Wang has been the epitome of consistency and efficiency in the first four months of this season. Wang has been eating up a lot of innings, while getting runners out very easily with his nasty sinker. God only knows what kind of shape the Yankees would be in if Wang hasn't been pitching as well as he has. The starting rotation would be a joke and the bullpen would be a disaster. However, if Wang's two latest starts are any indication of how this young phenom is going to pitch for the Yankees down the stretch run, then the Yankees just might want to rethink their postseason ambitions, let alone World Series ambitions.

Chien-Ming Wang has been the epitome of consistency and efficiency in the first four months of this season. Wang has been eating up a lot of innings, while getting runners out very easily with his nasty sinker. God only knows what kind of shape the Yankees would be in if Wang hasn’t been pitching as well as he has. The starting rotation would be a joke and the bullpen would be a disaster. However, if Wang’s two latest starts are any indication of how this young phenom is going to pitch for the Yankees down the stretch run, then the Yankees just might want to rethink their postseason ambitions, let alone World Series ambitions.

Wang is a young pitcher who hasn’t pitched this many innings ever in his career, whether it has been in Taiwan, the Yankees’ farm system, or in the MLB. Last year was his first season in the big leagues and he only pitched about 116 innings for the Bombers, but he was also injured for quite some time. Wang is already up to 166 IP for the Yankees this year, and it seems like he has hit that proverbial wall that affects young players, when after a certain number of innings or games played, their productivity decreases tremendously.

Granted, it has only been two games of mediocrity for Wang, and two games shouldn’t really be singled out in a 162 game season, but what he has shown lately has been quite scary for Yankee fans. Granted, the White Sox are the best hitting team in the game, but the middle of that lineup wasn’t just hitting grounders through the hole against Wang, they were crushing the ball. Wang did manage to pitch five innings, but he yielded 4 earned runs on 7 hits, walking two batters, a game in which the bullpen would blow. His next start against the Angels was easily one of his worst of the season. Wang allowed an astonishing 13 hits and 5 earned runs in just over 5 IP, a game in which Jered Weaver made the Yankees look absolutely silly at the plate.

If the Yankees are to even qualify for the playoffs, they will need Wang to get back to his old ways of pitching well and efficiently, eating up innings and giving the bullpen their rest. I know it has only been two games and he very well might bounce back his next start, but the question begs to be asked if Wang has hit the wall, and is just simply tired due to the rigors of a long season on a young arm.

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