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In the aftermath of Luis Severino’s lat strain that landed him on the IL, the Yankees once again needed to find pitching depth for a fifth starter.
This opened the door for 25-year old Jhony Brito, who is currently ranked 27th on the Yankees’ Top 30 Prospects list.
Brito was coming off a fairly impressive 2022 season in the minors, which saw him earn a promotion to the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. He compiled an 11-4 combined record with the Somerset Patriots and the RailRiders, with a 2.96 ERA.
After pitching 7.2 innings in Spring Training this year, Brito was optioned to the RailRiders on March 11. But after Severino went down, Brito was selected to start Sunday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays. This performance would be seen as an audition for Brito to join the starting rotation.
To say Brito took advantage of this opportunity would be quite an understatement. He faced 16 batters and retired all of them, needing only 58 pitches to complete 5.1 innings. Of those 58 pitches, Brito threw 43 for strikes.
The righty set the tone for the day by striking out the side in the top of the first. All three strikeouts came off the changeup; Kevin Kiermaier and Matt Chapman were frozen by it, while Cavan Biggio whiffed on a well-located change to end the frame.
Those would be the only strikeouts for Brito, but he pounded the strike zone all day. Brito shines in his ability to force weak contact, and that was on full display for the rest of his performance.
Ten of Brito’s next 13 outs were groundouts. As for the other three, Santiago Espinal and Nathan Lukes hit line drives right to Oswaldo Cabrera in left, while Kiermaier popped out to DJ LeMahieu in foul territory.
Brito’s last six outs were on ground balls; the only one that was hit particularly hard was a 108 mph grounder by Chapman, which was quickly gobbled up by Gleyber Torres at second. After retiring Lukes for the first out of the sixth inning, manager Aaron Boone gave the ball to Michael King, but not before giving Brito a well-earned pat on the back. The crowd at George M. Steinbrenner Field rose to its feet and gave a loud ovation as Brito walked to the dugout.
While the Blue Jays weren’t using too many of their starters in the lineup, Brito was still efficient, trusted his defense, and threw strikes when he needed to, which bodes well for starting pitchers. It’s hard to provide a better audition than 5.1 perfect innings, and if Brito is named the fifth starter, the Yankees’ rotation should be in good hands.
After the game, Boone said Brito could potentially start the third game of the regular season for the Yankees. With Severino out, the team is hoping Brito will be able to rise to the occasion in his absence. Sunday could be an indication of what's to come from their pitching prospect.
Follow Joe Najarian on Twitter (@JoeNajarian). Be sure to bookmark Inside The Pinstripes and check back daily for news, analysis and more.
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