If this is the defining year of Dillon Tate’s career, he’s happy with how it has begun.
The Yankees pitching prospect has gone from overhyped to overlooked, a fourth-overall pick by the Rangers in 2015 who, three seasons later, has not thrown more than 85 innings in a campaign. Tate, at 6-foot-2, 195 pounds, is slightly built, and the injuries have piled up. Last year he was in trouble before the weather warmed up, not making his season debut until June because of shoulder issues.
Now, one of the gems of the 2016 trade-deadline sell-off — Tate was the Rangers’ cost for Carlos Beltran — is healthy. And he’s trying to reclaim his status as a heat-throwing starter out of the University of California-Santa Barbara, before another injury could turn him into a bullpen option, which he was in college.
“I was hurt to start the year so I didn’t get as much time as I wanted to. I have a chance to change that this year,” the 23-year-old said this week at Double-A Trenton’s media day. “The main focus of spring training was to build up some momentum coming into the season. Last spring training I got hurt and went to rehab, and so I built up my momentum from there. But the main goal [this year] was just to stay healthy.”
As a non-roster invitee, the right-handed Tate had his brief taste of the big league club in Tampa, where he said he focused on honing his breaking ball. He also boasts a mid-90s fastball and quality changeup, but he left camp with better locker-room tales than mound stories. He made a habit of hanging around teammate Justus Sheffield’s locker — because Sheffield was locker mates with CC Sabathia. Tate wanted to breathe in any lesson from the veteran starter he could.
“I was always over there with those guys, talking just about every day,” said Tate, adding, “It’s little bits and pieces just to kind of help you along the way. … Little bits of information that are going to help you move up along the way.”
Last year, once Tate healed, he showed glimpses of the rotation prospect the Rangers saw in college. In time split between High-A Tampa and Trenton, he pitched to a 2.81 ERA, striking out 63 in 83 ¹/₃ innings. It was just an inning more than he had thrown the year prior.
It was a nice sight for the Yankees after they bought low on Tate, who was struggling with Texas. He had been a consensus top-100 prospect with the Rangers before injury and ineffectiveness hit, and the team cashed him in for two months of Beltran.
But now that the results are showing up, his issue has evolved to health. With his stature and high-end arm, another injury might mean a change.
As a result, Tate’s offseason was tweaked. He said his winter was filled with stretches and physical-therapy exercises, anything “to make sure my shoulder stays healthy.”
Asked to describe his mound demeanor, Tate said: “Accountable. Persistent.”
He will need to be. With Trenton, the prized prospect gets his first start Saturday — after the more big league-ready Domingo Acevedo and Sheffield get their turns.
“The strength of the team is definitely the pitching,” Trenton manager Jay Bell said. “There’s no doubt.”
After being overshadowed by the likes of Clint Frazier and Gleyber Torres in the 2016 trade-deadline haul, Tate is now a kind of forgotten prospect in Trenton. In a system that includes righty prospects Acevedo, Albert Abreu, Chance Adams, Luis Medina and Freicer Perez, the clock is ticking.
“Just go up there and enjoy being around my teammates,” Tate said of his goals for this season. “Focus on being a winner.”