Rich Yett - 1990 Score

Pitching To Contact…

Oh, my. It’s Rich “NOT” Yett.

One of the poster boys of the Indians of that era.

I have no freakin’ idea why he was in the majors. His stats in the minor weren’t great, and his peripherals were not good.

He was the “player to be named later” in the Bert Blyleven trade – after the Indians got Jay Bell and Curt Wardle.

His ML debut was April 13, 1985.  It’s odd because that’s his only appearance for the year, and he didn’t last long. Two errors kind of screwed him though. But he never appeared in the majors again, then he was in the Blyleven trade.

It wasn’t ALL bad – just nothing that stood out on why he was supposed to be a major league pitcher.

He did have a decent 1988 – 73% quality starts. But his ERA+ that year was 89. So say what you will. If he could have built on that – or if the Indians would have let him build on that, he may have been OK. But he’s just another train wreck of the Indians 80′s staffs.

By 1990, at age 27, he was back in Minnesota’s organization. And, well, he didn’t do well. At Portland he was 4-6, 6.17. He pitched OK for the Twins at the start of the season, but he was sent down – and I guess he didn’t take it well.

And he was done…done in by ground balls and liners that got through – because he didn’t have a strikeout pitch and had to pitch to contact – and the Indians were NOT a team to do that with.

 

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