Jonathan Loaisiga becomes latest player development triumph for Yankees

June 23, 2024

NEW YORK — Jonathan Loaisiga lounged on the leather coach in the Yankees clubhouse on Friday afternoon, hours before he was to make his big league debut. He wore blue jeans and a T-shirt. Though a few teammates joined him, his attention alternated between his phone and a nearby television, which aired the World Cup match between Portugal and Spain.

If he was nervous, he didn’t show it.

The Yankees like this about him. It’s one of the reasons that when a replacement was needed for the injured Masahiro Tanaka, the unheralded Loaisiga was summoned from Class-AA Trenton. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t pitched above Low-A until this season, or that his entire injury-riddled professional career had consisted of 39 appearances. They believed in his smooth delivery and his athleticism. And after seeing Loaisiga in spring training, manager Aaron Boone was convinced that he would be unfazed by skipping Class-AAA entirely.

Loaisiga rewarded that faith, tossing five scoreless innings en route to his first big league victory, a 5-0 triumph against the Rays. Once more, the Yankees plucked a prospect from their farm system, then watched him perform with uncanny poise. From the beginning, the 23-year-old Loaisiga exuded calm.

“I wasn’t nervous,” he said through a translator. “When I was out there in the bullpen, I wasn’t nervous at all.”

Rookies have helped propel the Yankees to a 45-20 start. When Brandon Drury experienced blurred vision, Miguel Andújar stepped in and became an instant doubles machine. When Jordan Montgomery suffered a season-ending elbow injury, Domingo Germán emerged and has 19 strikeouts in his last two starts. When Tyler Wade stumbled out of the gate, top prospect Gleyber Torres arrived and proved to be a revelation. Since debuting on April 22, he leads all rookies with 13 homers and 33 RBIs.

Torres isn’t going anywhere. The Yankees have made it known that they will aggressively pursue arms in the trade market. They need another starter to pair with Luis Severino at the top of the rotation. But general manager Brian Cashman has labeled Torres untouchable, going so far as to say that he won’t listen to proposals for the phenom.

“No,” Cashman said Friday. “C’mon now. I’ve got to walk around in this city.”

Indeed, the season has doubled as a never-ending victory lap for the Yankees’ player development department, which has churned out replacements as needed. The latest product is Loaisiga, who never flinched despite debuting in what he called the “cathedral of baseball.”

“There’s no question that as an organization, we do a really good job of preparing these guys,” Boone said. “Not just from a physical baseball, X’s and O’s (standpoint), but all of the mental stuff, all the emotional stuff, that goes with being a big leaguer, that goes with being a Yankee, that goes with playing in New York. These guys come through our system and for the most part are very prepared.”

Not long ago, Loaisiga’s career was in peril. Signed out of his native Nicaragua by the Giants in 2012, he spent 2013 in the Dominican Summer League, then missed the next two seasons with shoulder problems. He was released. Though the Yankees took a shot on him in 2016, he pitched just once with Low-A Charleston before needing Tommy John surgery. He recovered in time to post a 1.38 ERA over 11 starts in 2017. Loaisiga went to instructional league and made a strong impression on team officials. Last November, he was added to the 40-man roster, a sign of his rising stature.

By the end of spring training, Loaisiga demonstrated that he could be an option to step into the rotation if needed. He began the season at Class-A Tampa before a promotion to Class-AA Trenton, posting a 3.00 ERA in 10 starts across both levels. In 45 innings, he walked just four.

“So far, he’s been unflappable,” Cashman said before the game.

Loaisiga pitched well enough that the Yankees slotted him to pitch in a June 8 doubleheader at Detroit. Rain altered those plans. But when Tanaka injured both hamstrings while running the bases, Loaisiga suddenly found a clear path to the major leagues. He did not disappoint.

“He looked very good tonight,” catcher Gary Sánchez said. “He kept executing pitches. He was calm up there. It didn’t look like his first start.”

Yankees officials have raved about Loaisiga’s clean delivery, which allows the 5-foot-11, 165-pounder to throw hard. He topped out at 98 mph with his fastball. He generated swings and misses with a hard, biting breaking ball that he threw with confidence. He commanded his changeup, even though one rival scout rated it as the weakest weapon in his arsenal. Loaisiga walked four, which was out of line with his reputation as a strike-thrower. But the number was deceptive. Most of his misses were just off the corners of the plate. And he finished with six strikeouts.

“It never felt like he was wild when he was walking guys,” Boone said. “He was a little bit off the edge.”

Though Loaisiga walked the first batter he faced, he bounced back with a strikeout. He struck out the side in the second then got a double play grounder to work around a walk in the third. Sometime during that early stretch, Rays manager Kevin Cash turned to his bench coach Charlie Montoya in the dugout.

“He looks like a young Mariano Rivera,” Cash told Montoya, noting Loaisiga’s athletic build and mannerisms on the mound.

The fourth inning brought trouble. But with the bases loaded, Loaisiga struck out Christian Arroyo with a hard breaking ball to escape the jam. Loaisiga had benefitted from a mound visit, during which pitching coach Larry Rothschild offered simple advice: breathe. In the fifth, Loaisiga’s velocity dropped off. He was tired. But that didn’t stop him from posting another clean inning, this time working around a Johnny Field single. It was yet another sign of resolve.

“He confirmed what we thought,” Boone said. “And it’s a big reason why he’s here.”

Loaisiga had thrown a season-high 91 pitches by the time he walked off the mound following the fifth. He made the sign of the cross as he retreated into the dugout. Soon, his night was finished. The Yankees led 1-0 on Didi Gregorius’ solo shot. But they’d tack on, first with a Giancarlo Stanton sac fly in the sixth, and then with a three-run double in the eighth from the slumping Sánchez. Soon, the Yankees were celebrating another milestone.

The night before, the rookie Germán collected his first big league victory. Upon being presented with a boxed game ball, the pitcher kissed it. Later, he admitted that he was relieved to be free from the pressure of being winless. It had taken seven starts. There would be no such wait for Loaisiga, who needed only one chance.

Said Cash: “Two impressive young arms that we’ve seen on back-to-back nights.”

The Yankees hadn’t had pitchers record their first big league victories on consecutive nights since 2007, when Chase Wright, Kei Igawa and Sean Henn accomplished the feat.

After the game, as Loaisiga referenced his faith, a new tattoo of the Virgin Mary could be seen on his left forearm. It matched the statuette that sat in his locker. Growing up in Nicaragua, he looked up to Dennis Martinez, a countryman and author of a perfect game. He met the legend once a few years back, even picking up a few tips. From the day Loaisiga signed his first contract, his sights had been set on the big leagues. The Giants gave up on him. But he didn’t give up on himself.

The reward came on Friday night, when he noticed a few fans in the stands, waving his country’s flag. With his family back home watching on the internet, Loaisiga slipped on the pinstripes and became the 15th Nicaraguan-born player to appear in the major leagues.

“It has definitely been a tough road to get here,” he said. “I felt super excited. Getting to your goal, achieving your goal — it’s a dream to pitch in the big leagues. Having the opportunity to do that and finally pitch in the big leagues is a dream come true.”

— With Juan Toribio

(Photo by Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports)

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