TAMPA, Fla. — J.A. Happ describes it as “whippyness.” It’s the feeling a pitcher has when his mechanics are in alignment, and his torso and lower half are allowing his arm to be the final component to turn toward the plate. This is the sensation that allows for arm speed in a delivery and gives the pitcher better command, and often better velocity and rise on his fastball.



Whippyness is what Happ felt had disappeared during his ill-fated 2019 campaign. He threw 161 1/3 innings over the course of the season, second on the Yankees only to Masahiro Tanaka, but it took a late-season turnaround to bring his season ERA under five.



The simplest explanation as to why Happ went from a 2.69 ERA over 11 starts for the Yankees in 2018 to a guy who couldn’t get past the fifth inning more often than not in 2019 was the super-juiced baseball that plagued just about every fly-ball pitcher across the league. His fly-ball rate fell from 2018 to 2019. His...