TAMPA — Located throughout the Yankees clubhouse are tall boxes of a fruit-flavored Japanese chewy candy called Hi-Chew. The company is promoting the candy with the arrival of Masahiro Tanaka to the Yankees. Players dip into the treats during the day.
Tanaka is doing the same from a pitching perspective. Each day brings a few more treats Tanaka’s way as he adjusts to Major League Baseball.
Tanaka will pitch Sunday at George M. Steinbrenner Field against the Braves, and will throw about 75 pitches.
The way it looks now, Tanaka should get his first MLB treat, a start against the Blue Jays on April 4 in Toronto, then his second start April 9 at home against the Orioles. Tanaka Time will be a special time.
“We weigh the schedule a little bit where he can get extra rest early in the season to try to keep him strong through the year,’’ pitching coach Larry Rothschild said Saturday. “We got 13 days in a row to start the season. That’s going to impact when we decide to pitch him.’’
If the Yankees want Tanaka to get an extra day’s rest after his second start, that means his third start would come after the first off day, April 14. He would miss the early series against the Red Sox.
Tanaka will be give an extra day’s rest after Sunday’s start, which means his next outing will be March 26. He is on board with the adjustments.
“Once the season starts it’s going to be every fifth day, so I’m making adjustments toward that,” Tanaka said through an interpreter. “I just look at it if there’s an extra day I’m obviously happy with that. Just one day extra to work on a little bit something extra might help but basically I’m just adjusting to an every-five-days rotation.”
Everything from pitching only once a week in Japan to a different baseball — it’s all new.
The challenge, Rothschild said, is “getting him used to the fifth day under different circumstances, and that’s why we did the simulated game the last time and see what schedule works for him as far as throwing in-between.
“He wants to face hitters and that’s a good thing,’’ Rothschild said of Tanaka, who throws a fastball, slider, splitter, curve and cutter. The splitter is his money pitch.
Tanaka will have to command the strike zone in order to get ahead of the count to make hitters chase that splitter. He cannot fall behind and allow major league hitters to wait on the fastball.
Tanaka said he is getting more movement on his pitches using the MLB ball, which is a bit bigger than the Japanese ball.
“If you really get the off-speed pitches right, I think it will give it more bite compared to balls in Japan,’’ Tanaka said.
Tanaka said he is working on controlling those pitches.
“The one thing I try to not do is make off-speed pitches get bigger bites, because that could lead to messing up my pitch form,’’ Tanaka said.
Despite all this preparation, the real adjustments will come once the regular season starts. Tanaka is well aware of that.
“I really haven’t experienced pitching in a regular season here yet, so it’s kind of hard to say but basically every time I go up on the mound it is like a regular season to me,’’ he said. “I just try to do my best.’’
Once Tanaka Time officially starts, the right-hander will have plenty to chew on as he makes his way through the busy early schedule.