THERE are two young relievers on the fast track to Yankee Stadium, one you’ve heard about – Mark Melancon. The other has been quietly streaking up the ranks. His name is David Robertson.
Remember the name. When you see him pitch, you’ll certainly remember the curve ball. That’s his out pitch, a pitch that is a lost art to this baseball generation.
“His curve ball is amazing,” says one National League scout, who recently saw Robertson pitch. “Combine that with the command of his fastball, and you really have something special.”
Robertson, 23, recently was promoted from Double-A Trenton to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Last June, I wrote about another young pitcher in the Yankees system who was better than Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, even though those two pitchers were getting all the pub. His name was Joba Chamberlain.
Robertson is not in the same speed class as Chamberlain, but he could wind up inheriting his setup role in the bullpen. He’s that talented.
“He might be the guy,” GM Brian Cashman says of Robertson.
“I’m just trying to do my job and get to the big leagues,” Robertson says. He pitched two more shutout innings Wednesday night in a win at Richmond, where four of his six outs were strikeouts. Heading into the weekend over 422/3 minor-league innings, Robertson registered 60 strikeouts and just 18 walks. He had not allowed a home run. His ERA was 1.69 and Triple-A hitters were batting .133 against him.
Those are numbers that make you take notice.
It’s interesting to note how Robertson perfected his curve ball. Robertson is on the small side – “I’m 6-foot in spikes,” he says with a laugh – but he is sneaky fast in the 91-92 range. Opposing hitters say it looks more like 97-98.
A big reason for that is the command of the fastball and the ability to locate it on either side of the plate coupled with the knee-buckling curve.
“He has a devastating curve ball,” Cashman says. And get this; the right-hander was a 17th-round draft pick out of Alabama in 2006, the same draft that produced Chamberlain. At Alabama, they had him junk his curve ball after his freshman year and go to a slider. The Yankees liked his makeup and his stuff, and one of the area scouts knew he had thrown the curve his freshman year.
In the summer of 2006, Robertson played in the Cape Cod League. Two big things happened there. He met his fiancée Erin Cronin, and he rediscovered his curve ball. One day, Yankees VP of amateur scouting Damon Oppenheimer got a call from the manager of the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, Scott Pickler, a longtime friend.
“He said, ‘Your guy is the real deal,’ ” Oppenheimer recalls. ” ‘We brought his curve ball back and he’s doing great.’ “
Josh Fields, the Mariners’ first-round pick in 2008, was that team’s closer, but by the end of the season, Robertson was closing the door on opponents.
“I saw him pitch three or four times up there and he was dominating,” Oppenheimer says. By the end of August, the Yankees signed Robertson.
During his first year in the minors in 2007 at three different levels, he compiled an 8-3 record with an 0.96 ERA and 113 strikeouts over 841/3 innings. Beyond the numbers, Oppenheimer says, “The guy doesn’t scare and he continues to perform.”
“I loved playing in the Cape,” Robertson says of his time with Yarmouth-Dennis, which won the championship that summer. He’s going to get married in October of 2009.
“I still need to improve my changeup,” he says.
So does Joba.
Robertson grew up in Alabama and in true Crimson Tide fashion is a graduate of Paul W. Bryant High School. His mom has a nursing background. His father is in the labor-intensive wholesale flower business. Robertson often helped his father and says the best thing about that job was “quitting time.”
The way he’s pitching now, his new job may soon be part of the Bridge to Mariano.