TAMPA — It has taken longer than anybody expected, but Michael Pineda is on the cusp of being the ace of the Yankees’ rotation.
With CC Sabathia battling a balky right knee and Masahiro Tanaka working through a small tear in the right ulnar collateral ligament that eventually may require Tommy John surgery, there are doubts as to what exactly they can lend to a rotation smothered by question marks.
Nathan Eovaldi brings a 15-35 ledger into his fifth big league season and Chris Capuano is 74-82 with a 4.30 ERA as a starter in nine seasons and is holding the fifth spot until Ivan Nova returns or Luis Severino forces his way into the big leagues.
That leaves Pineda, who missed the first two seasons as a Yankee because of shoulder surgery and had the third dominated by stupidity for applying pine tar to his neck and getting suspended. An upper back injury followed and Pineda was limited to 13 starts in which he went 5-5 with a 1.89 ERA.
“I feel great but I don’t focus on that,’’ Pineda said of having the ace tag thrown around his name. “I am focused on pitching this season every five days.’’
Considering the uncertainty with Sabathia and Tanaka, the Yankees need Pineda to make 30-plus starts in order to contend for a postseason spot.
That might be asking a lot because the most starts the 26-year-old right-hander has made in the big leagues was 28 in his rookie season with the Mariners, when he was an All-Star.
While the shoulder didn’t bark last year, the surgery in 2012 to repair an anterior labral tear was tricky and at least gives a reason to pause when talking about Pineda’s health.
“I want to be healthy all season and every five days put my team in position to win the game,’’ Pineda said after throwing batting practice Sunday morning at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
When the Yankees acquired Pineda and Jose Campos for Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi, GM Brian Cashman downplayed talk of the 6-foot-7, 265-pound Pineda being a top-of-the-rotation starter even though he was 9-10 with a 3.74 ERA in his rookie season.
Now, after pitching well a year ago and the fog surrounding Sabathia and Tanaka, Pineda has ascended to that neighborhood less than a year after the pine-tar incident.
“Everything is in the past, I am feeling good,’’ Pineda said of the 10-game suspension he received for incredibly applying pine tar to the right side of his neck in Boston on April 23. Thanks to the back problem, Pineda didn’t return to the big leagues until Aug. 13.
After watching Pineda’s batting practice session, Joe Girardi acknowledged Pineda could be on the verge of being viewed as a top-of-the-rotation starter.
“I think you can see the ability there, definitely. I was pretty excited what I saw today,’’ Girardi said. “You get excited when you think about sending him out there every day and getting 30 to 32 starts and what he can possibly do for your team.’’
Asked what he liked about Pineda’s batting practice, Girardi gushed.
“The three pitches he’s got. His command was outstanding and the movement was great,’’ Girardi said. “His slider was good and his changeup was good. He threw a ton of strikes. He is a strike thrower. You look at a lot of his games last year and there isn’t a high pitch count. He is very efficient and that is great.’’
Austin Romine caught Pineda on Sunday and echoed Girardi.
“It was just a really good session. It was something to be excited about,’’ Romine said. “Fastball command was really good.’’