New York Yankees: Hiroki Kuroda Getting Comfortable in Pinstripes

At one point during spring training, Hiroki Kuroda post an ERA upwards of 14 for the New York Yankees.

It looked like Kuroda was going to have issues in his first season in pinstripes, but since then, the veteran starter has rebounded and is riding a wave of solid pitching to Opening Day.

Since a dreadful start against the Tampa Bay Rays that saw him give up three runs on three hits in two innings of work on March 7th, Kuroda has been solid in his last three outings and lowered his ERA from 13.50 to 3.07.

Interestingly enough, 3.07 is the ERA Kuroda pitched to in 2011.

In his last start, Kuroda allowed one run on six hits in 5.2 innings pitched.

The concern will remain about Kuroda's viability moving from a weak offensive division in the NL West to the best in baseball in the AL East. Only time will tell just how long, if any, of a transition time will be needed for Kuroda.

With the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kuroda lowered his ERA each of the four seasons he spent on the west coast. Clearly he's become a better pitcher since he entered the league in 2008.

One thing that can't be questioned is his ability to eat innings having pitched in almost 700 in four seasons and Kuroda has made over 30 starts in three of those years.

I don't expect Kuroda to pitch to the type of ERA he saw in the NL West, but he will still win plenty of games with a much improved offense giving him better run support than the Dodgers. He won't be the No. 2 starter that the Bombers are looking for but he will certainly help with depth for the 2012 season.