One of the veteran starters the Yankees signed to a minor league deal that is working his way to the majors, Kevin Millwood, took a big step toward returning to the majors yesterday. He pitched for Double-A Trenton and went seven innings and allowed just a single hit.
It is a good start, but Millwood is a crafty major league starter, just because he can trick minor leaguers at that level doesn’t mean it will necessarily translate to the majors. He was clocked in at just 85-86 mph and the Yankees are likely going to need to see a bit more arm strength out of him before calling him up.
Millwood was never really a fireballer and the Yankees don’t expect him to be, but he sat comfortably at 89.2 mph last season and topped 90 in seasons previous to that. The Yankees may wait until he gets closer to approaching those numbers. Time is running out as Millwood can opt-out of his deal in May so if they don’t call him up by then they risk losing him.
Hopefully if possible some team will give us a prospect or two for him sometime next month
That's not how this works. Millwood has an opt-out clause. If he's not on the team by May 1 then he can and probably will leave.
how can the author of this article say that Millwood sat comfortably at 89.2 mph…the guy went 4-16…
It doesn't mean he is or isn't a good pitcher, instead what I meant by that is that is in the range of what his stuff usually is.