Clarke Schmidt shows ‘growth’ in best start yet: ‘He’s definitely maturing in his starting role’

SEATTLE— Clarke Schmidt continued to show signs of improvement Wednesday, as the Yankees’ starter threw his best game of the season against the Mariners. While Schmidt received a no-decision in the Yankees’ 1-0, 10- inning loss— Geoge Kirby threw a gem for Seattle— he held the M’ s to three hits while striking out seven and walking just one over 84 pitches.

SEATTLE — Clarke Schmidt continued to show signs of improvement Wednesday, as the Yankees’ starter threw his best game of the season against the Mariners.

The right-hander surrendered no runs for the first time this year while logging 5.2 innings of work. While Schmidt received a no-decision in the Yankees’ 1-0, 10-inning loss — Geoge Kirby threw a gem for Seattle — he held the M’s to three hits while striking out seven and walking just one over 84 pitches.

“He was really good tonight,” Aaron Boone said after the game, “and that was another big step for him.”

Overall, Schmidt’s first extended run as a major league starter has not impressed this season. But, as Boone alluded to, the pitcher’s Wednesday outing followed two respectable starts.

Schmidt gave up two runs over five innings to the Reds on May 19, a needed rebound against a bad team after the Rays tagged him for seven earned runs on May 14. Schmidt then limited the Orioles to one run over five frames on May 25, a strong performance after Baltimore beat up on him in early April.

Schmidt, who owns a 5.01 ERA this season, has permitted just three earned runs over his last three starts while totaling 15.2 innings, five walks and 16 strikeouts. He also hasn’t served up a home run over that span.

For pitching coach Matt Blake, Schmidt’s recent run is an indicator of “growth.”

“He’s definitely maturing in his starting role with just an understanding of how to stay out of danger areas [and] what his full arsenal looks like to lefties and righties,” Blake told the Daily News. “But he’s made a lot less mistakes.”

Boone and Schmidt said that “execution” has been a common theme over the last three starts, and the manager was happy with the hurler’s ability to dictate counts on Wednesday night.

Schmidt believes an aggressive, attacking mindset has helped him get ahead of hitters.

“I know I have good stuff,” he said, “so I kind of try not to nibble too much in the zone and just go right at ‘em.”

Blake and Schmidt also said that the 2017 first-round pick is learning how to use his cutter, a new pitch this season, and slider better. Schmidt balanced his arsenal well on Wednesday, using four different pitches 20-something percent of the time.

“Early on in the season, with adding the cutter, we didn’t have really too good of a feel as to how to incorporate it,” Schmidt said. “Now I feel like we’re starting to dial in the pitch package a little bit more and learning how to pitch with the cutter and being able to find new ways to get lefties out.”

As for the slider, Schmidt added, “A lot of times early on this season, I was using it too much, and it was getting abused. Finding the spots to throw it has made it play up a lot more.”

Kyle Higashioka, who caught Schmidt on Wednesday, agreed with the 27-year-old’s assessment. The catcher also said that his own learning process has benefitted Schmidt.

“He’s really kind of coming into his own. We’re figuring out the stuff that kind of works best for him sequencing-wise, and I’m kind of also figuring out where his misses are and what to avoid in certain situations and what happens when he gets tired.”

Schmidt was thrown into the fire — aka the rotation — this spring due to injuries, so he’s had to learn on the fly. With a team like the Yankees, outside observers don’t usually tolerate a long leash for learning curves.

“That’s the hard part about being a young starting pitcher for the New York Yankees,” Blake said. “You’ve got a lot of expectations for guys, and it’s hard to live up to them right out of the gate.”

But Higashioka said it’s important to let things play out. The Yankees have had no choice but to do that with Schmidt, but they’ve publicly maintained faith in the pitcher throughout a lot of lows and, more recently, some highs.

Schmidt hasn’t wavered either, and that confidence has paid off lately.

“Early on this season, when my back was against the wall, I never really doubted that success was coming around the corner,” he said. “I felt like I always had that confidence in my stuff and in my abilities to continue to get guys out.

“We made some adjustments, and we’re continuing to learn and grow and mature as a starting pitcher.”

()