Domingo German ‘thankful for the opportunity’ to pitch again for the Yankees

Domingo German cannot change the past. The Yankees right-hander will always have the 81-game suspension for domestic violence that wiped out his 2020 season on his baseball record. He has to live with the consequences of his actions with his family and friends. The 28-year-old has had to step up and accept responsibility with the organization and face his teammates.

Now, he has to go out and prove that he appreciates the second chance he has been given. German will make his first appearance on a major league mound since Sept. 18, 2019 on Sunday.

“The opportunity, it means a lot for me, just the opportunity itself. I mean, it’s not easy to be a big leaguer and plenty of players have gone through something similar, then they’ve never had the opportunity to come back or find themselves on the Opening Day roster,” German said before Saturday’s game against the Blue Jays at the Stadium. “For me, I want to say I’m thankful for the opportunity. At the same time, I want to show that when you get a second chance you want to do things right. You want to be there for them. You want to be there for my teammates. We make mistakes and it’s also possible to learn from it and move forward.”

Thursday, when the teams were introduced for Opening Day, German’s introduction was met mostly with ambivalence. A smattering of cheers and a few boos from the crowd of 10,850, who were mostly just celebrating the fact they were allowed back in after the coronavirus pandemic locked the gates to fans in 2020.

Sunday will be the first time the focus of Yankees fans will be back on German. He is not worried about the reaction he will get.

“We had some fans in Tampa during our games and I felt welcome over there in Tampa during spring training. I felt their support,” German said through team interpreter Marlon Abreu. “The other day, we had some practice here and I heard the cheer from the crowd. It felt good and I could feel their support. Tomorrow is going to be exciting. I want to go out there and give the best I have. It’s really important for me to go out there and give it what I have and leave it out there.”

German was not exactly welcomed back into the clubhouse with “open arms” this spring. Zack Britton made it publicly clear that he wasn’t happy about having German back after the incident involving German’s then girlfriend. Luke Voit said German was “on thin ice.”

It isn’t insurmountable, however, for the team or its fans. This isn’t the first time the Yankees have had a player suspended under the domestic violence policy.

The Yankees dealt for Aroldis Chapman after a domestic violence incident in 2015 had come to light. He was suspended 30 games, which delayed his Yankees debut. Chapman apologized for the incident during which he fired a gun eight times in his garage, by pointing out he did not hurt anyone. Five years later, Chapman was re-signed by the Yankees and extended. He is considered a cornerstone of the bullpen and a key part of the clubhouse. He counseled German this spring on how to handle his return with teammates.

And the bottom line is that the Yankees need German, who went 18-4 with a 4.03 ERA in 24 starts and three relief appearances over 143 innings in 2019.

In a season after the weird 2020 campaign that featured abbreviated and stunted workloads for pitchers, depth is going to be crucial this season. German isn’t just another arm either. He has a live fastball and good breaking stuff. Through spring training, scouts said he was the Yankees’ second best starter behind Gerrit Cole.

“Look, we know how talented of a pitcher he is. We know the kind of season he had for us in 19,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We saw the development of him from the 2018 season to the 2019 season. So [we] know what kind of talent he is.”

“There’s a lot of buzz around him, understandably, at the start of camp and I feel like there’s some good conversations had between him and the club and him and different individuals,” Boone said. “I feel like every step of the way he’s done a great job to this point and excited to see him go out there tomorrow.”