Yankees' Dillon Tate: Working on two-seamer

Tate is developing a a two-seamer, Brendan Kuty of NJ.com reports.

Tate was reportedly encouraged to work on the pitch by the Yankees' analytics department, who found the two-seamer to be a good fit for the young righty based on his arm angle and spin rate. A two-seamer can help a pitcher keep the ball on the ground, though that hasn't been a problem for Tate, who put up high groundball rates of 60.5 percent and 54.1 percent in short stints with High-A Tampa and Double-A Trenton last year. Missing bats seems to be Tate's real problem, as his strikeout rates were just 19.3 percent and 16.4 percent at those two stops last year. The two-seamer isn't the most obvious fit for Tate, but a new pitch can sometimes dramatically alter a pitchers' profile, so it's worth keeping an eye on the early reports this season.