Chance Adams’ Day Will Come

When the Yankees lost starter Michael Pineda to Tommy John surgery in mid-July, they didn’t turn to prospect Chance Adams, but that doesn’t mean the 22-year-old righthander won’t be up this year.

A 2015 fifth-round pick out of Dallas Baptist, Adams worked as a reliever his lone year there but has converted successfully to the rotation as a pro.

After leading the minors with a .169 opponent average last season, Adams has been equally as tough this year, limiting batters to a .174 mark. Through 21 starts, mostly at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he went 11-3, 1.93 with 109 strikeouts and 48 walks in 116.1 innings.

“We still feel that he has more work to do,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of Adams when asked about Adams being considered for Pineda’s rotation spot. “Could he be an option later on? Absolutely. It is something that could happen, but it’s not something we have said, ‘He is going to make a start.’

“It comes down to command, using all his pitches, using his third pitch. He still has some work to do.”

The Yankees’ sense of rotation urgency was dampened at the trade deadline, when they traded for starters Sonny Gray and Jaime Garcia to complement veterans Masahiro Tanaka and C.C. Sabathia and young homegrown arms Luis Severino and Jordan Montgomery.