Domingo Germán

Germán was signed by the then Florida Marlins as an international free agent in 2009. He made his professional debut in 2010 for the Dominican Summer League Marlins. Germán played the 2014 season with the Greensboro Grasshoppers, pitching to a 9–3 win-loss record with a 2.48 earned run average (ERA) and 113 strikeouts.[1] In July he was selected to play in the All-Star Futures Game and recorded two strikeouts in the game.[2][3][4]

On December 19, 2014, the Marlins traded Germán, Nathan Eovaldi, and Garrett Jones to the New York Yankees for Martín Prado and David Phelps.[5] He missed the 2015 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, and was non-tendered after the season, removing him from the 40-man roster. The Yankees resigned Germán to a minor league contract during the offseason.[6] They re-added him to their 40-man roster after the 2016 season.[7]

The Yankees promoted Germán to the major leagues on June 10, 2017.[8] He made his major league debut the next day against the Baltimore Orioles. Germán pitched ​2 ²⁄₃ scoreless innings of relief, allowing two hits while walking one and striking out one.[9] In seven relief appearances to finish 2017, German finished with an 0–1 record and a 3.14 ERA.

Germán made his first career MLB start on May 6, 2018, at Yankee Stadium against the Cleveland Indians. He pitched six innings without allowing a hit, allowing two walks and striking out nine batters. Germán was removed after the sixth inning due to his pitch count and not being completely stretched out as a starter yet. Germán became the first pitcher in MLB history with nine or more strikeouts and zero hits allowed in his first MLB start. In 19 games (13 starts), Germán had a 2–6 record and a 5.68 ERA. He was optioned to Triple-A on July 21, 2018.[10] In 2019, Germán made the Yankees' Opening Day roster.[11] He was named 'Hurler of the Month' by the team after posting MLB-leading 5 wins, 2.56 ERA (8th in AL), 0.85 WHIP (2nd), 0.177 BAA and 0.470 OPS (both lead AL) in April.[12] On June 9, 2019, German was put on the 10-day injured list due to a hip strain. He was activated on July 3, 2019. In his first start back from the IL, German allowed a home run by Jeff McNeil on the first pitch, but it was the only run he allowed in 6 innings as the Yankees won 5-1 against the New York Mets.

On September 19, 2019, Germán was placed on administrative leave by MLB, pending an investigation of suspected domestic violence.[13] On September 25, it was confirmed that he would not be eligible to participate in any baseball action for the remainder of 2019, including the postseason.[14] He had the best win-loss percentage of MLB pitchers in 2019, at .818.[15]

On January 2, 2020, Germán was suspended for the first 63 games of 2020, making his punishment for 81 games including time served in 2019 due to violating the league's personal conduct policy, the harshest suspension levied to a player on domestic violence allegations, but not formally charged. He is also eligible to return on 2020 postseason, as most of his suspension served thus far was during the 2019 postseason. The suspension also includes spring training games.[16]