That Domingo German would have an innings cap this year was not entirely unexpected.
That the right-hander would be the Yankees’ early-season ace and one of the best pitchers in baseball — thus making his innings cap worth monitoring — was.
In the 38¹/₃ innings German has thrown so far this season, he is 6-1 with a 2.35 ERA, 0.887 WHIP and 39 strikeouts. For a rotation that has been missing expected ace Luis Severino and is temporarily without James Paxton, the 26-year-old German has delivered in a big way — making him more than just a fill-in.
German is on pace for about 188 innings. He has thrown more than 100 innings just twice in his career — 123 ²/₃ in 2017 and 123 ¹/₃ in 2014, the season before he underwent Tommy John surgery.
Brian Cashman would not specify to The Post’s Joel Sherman what number the Yankees have their eye on for German’s limit this season, but the general manager said it is something they will monitor.
“We have caps in play,” Cashman told Sherman. “Obviously, it is part of managing that is part of the program. We try to make sure safeties are on players to protect them.”
Sherman, who first reported the German innings limit in Wednesday’s Post, estimated a cap of 150 innings. German threw 94 innings last year, but just 10 ²/₃ of those came after July 26 — when he left a Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre game early and was diagnosed with an ulnar nerve injury.
Pitching coach Larry Rothschild said German’s case is a little different than other young pitchers because of how long he has been around. German signed with the Marlins as an international free agent in 2009 and made his pro debut in 2010. He entered this season with 561 pro innings under his belt across eight seasons — excluding 2015, when he sat out while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
“He’s pitched for a while, so I think there’s less concern with a guy like that than with a guy that’s just hopped up onto the scene like Lo [Jonathan Loaisiga],” Rothschild said Wednesday before the Yankees played host to the Mariners. “But he’s pitched for a while, and he has pitched some innings. So I think we’ll deal with that, we’ll take a look at it. We’re well aware of where he is, as far as what we need to do to manage it. We’ll take care of what we need to do and take a look at it as we go.”
It was just two years ago that the Yankees tried to manage Luis Severino’s innings when he was a 23-year-old, though he had thrown 161 ²/₃ innings and 151 ¹/₃ in the two seasons before that. He ended up reaching 193 ¹/₃ innings in the regular season, plus 16 more in the playoffs.
Whether German’s innings limit would extend into the postseason, should the Yankees get there, is unclear. But if the pitching staff can get back to full health in the coming months, the team will have the options of going to a six-man rotation, skipping German at times or putting him in the bullpen for a stretch.
“If they’re throwing well, it makes things easier,” Rothschild said. “But provided he’s throwing the way he is, it gives us an opportunity at times to give him the extra rest, and everybody for that matter.”
Of course, injuries often have a way of taking care of innings caps, which have become relatively standard for young arms across the league.
Severino said he has not talked to German about potentially facing a limit, but could have some insight.
“When you’re like that, you’re young, you only think about pitching,” Severino said. “You don’t think about when you’re going to stop. You feel helpless, so you don’t worry about innings or nothing like that.”