What to expect from Eric Lauer vs the Yankees

Eric Lauer takes the mound this afternoon at 3:35 PT in New York. The 23 year old left hander is coming off his best back to back starts of the year. He didn’t allow a walk or home run in either outing. He combined for 12 ²⁄₃ innings and 2 ER.

Here are a few things to watch for.

Lauer has given up a home run in 6 of his 10 starts

I suppose this is considered normal in today’s game, but it’s still an area of concern. Yankee stadium is known as a hitters park, so this will be a key to the game. If Lauer can keep them in the ballpark, he’ll have a good chance at getting a W.

Limit the free passes

This is an obvious one, but we have to discuss it. He’s walked at least one in 7 of his 10 starts. In one of those 3 outings, he hit a batter. So really you can consider it just 2 walk-less starts. He’s not known as a strikeout pitcher, so he gets himself into trouble when he starts issuing walks (just ask Matt Strahm about what that did to him yesterday). He does have 45 SO’s in 53 Innings, but that says more about the type of baseball that’s being played versus Lauer’s strikeout prowess.

Limit damage the 2nd and 3rd time through the order

One area Lauer has shown major improvement in is pitching a 2nd and 3rd time through the order. Throughout the season, he has a 7.39 ERA in the 4th inning and a 5.73 ERA in the 6th. Fortunately, the improvement we’ve seen has been in the last 2 outings. He’ll need to get creative to keep this potent offense guessing.

All told, it will be a major challenge for Lauer and the boys this afternoon. The big question is which Lauer will show up? He’ll need to limit the Yankees to 2-3 runs considering Masahiro Tanaka is his opponent.

What do you think Padre fans?

3:35 PT

Eric Lauer vs. Masahiro Tanaka