McCarthy Thanking Cutter For Recent Success

When Brandon McCarthy was in Arizona this season, he was told not to throw his cutter.

The Diamondbacks, thinking his sinker would help him more, were convinced he couldn't use the pitch effectively, possibly causing him to struggle the way he did. 

Fortunetaly, though, when McCarthy arrived in the Bronx the Yankees loved the potential it carried, encouraging him to hurl it more often in hopes it'd turn his year around. 

And, well, so far it has.

“I feel like myself again," McCarthy recently said, via the NYDN's John Harper. "The (Diamondbacks) didn’t want me throwing (the cutter) anymore. They wanted more sinkers away, but I feel like I need that pitch to be successful. The Yankees came to me right away and said, ‘We need to bring the cutter back into play.’ They obviously looked back and saw, ‘when he’s good he was throwing cutters. When he’s not, he wasn’t.’ I was glad to hear it because I was going to tell them that anyway."

In his first two starts with the Bombers against the Indians and Reds, the 31-year-old has surrendered just two earned runs in 12 2/3 innings, helping him put together a 1.42 ERA.

No, that doesn't guarantee any future dominance, although it is undeniably contributive, something the Yanks really need right now from their rotation.