Less than 12 months ago, Jake Cousins ​​was floundering with the Triple-A Space Cowboys after being designated for assignment, placed on waivers and dealt to the minors by the Astros. Within a season, he transformed himself into a high-leverage reliever with some of the best swing-and-miss stuff in the Yankees bullpen, right on the doorstep of the World Series. He faced the biggest moment of his career in the eighth inning of Game 5 of the ALCS, so let’s see how it turned out.

José Ramírez steps into the penalty area and leads the frame. He may have fallen to this point in the playoffs, but he remained the scariest bat in the Guardians’ lineup. Cousins ​​has already struck out Kyle Manzardo to end the seventh, but this is a much different test compared to a rookie playing in his first postseason.

Cousins’ best throw is the slider and it is one of the best in the game, with an eye-watering strikeout rate of 47.5 percent, a whiff rate of 47.2 percent, and the tenth most horizontal movement of all sliders in baseball, which oversteps half a foot more than the average slider. He uses it with almost the same extreme confidence as Tommy Kahnle in his changeup, willing to use it at any point and in any part of the zone. It is therefore no surprise that he started it this AB.

Cousins ​​tries to backdoor the slider for a called strike one, but starts it just a little too far out of the zone for the motion to take him back across the plate. However, it is important to note that Ramírez gave up the pitch from the hand almost immediately, and Cousins ​​saves this for immediate use.

Because Ramírez gave up the pitch that started outside the zone, Cousins ​​has free rein to attack the perimeter for called strikes.

He tries to do this with this elevated sinker, but the pitch is probably half a ball too high to merit the strike call.

Down 2-0 against one of the game’s most dangerous hitters to start an inning is not where you want to be. They say leadoff walks are killers, and Cousins ​​certainly can’t afford that outcome with the game tied, one inning to go, and the lanky part of the Guardians’ lineup coming up. Sticking to his plan to throw Ramírez, Cousins ​​perfectly executes the slider he intended to throw as the first pitch.

Notice again how Ramírez looks at the ball completely in the glove, without ever being tempted to make an offer on the field.

Austin Wells throws the exact same target as the previous throw, hoping that Cousins ​​has now chosen his command to repeat the delivery of the previous slider.

Cousins ​​misses his spot, but does so in a relatively safe location. Ramírez can only tip the slider if it falls below the zone.

Cousins ​​has done well to use the batter’s influence to his own advantage. It doesn’t seem like Ramírez is seeing the slider well, taking pitches in the zone for called strikes and chasing one out of the zone, so Cousins ​​and Wells invite this hitter to get himself out by throwing another one.

Thank God, kind Cousins, be glad this ball didn’t end up in the chairs. He leaves a hanger right above the heart of the plate, but luckily Ramírez is too eager with his swing and rips it wrong. This is the danger of the slider for an opposing hitter of Ramírez’s quality. If you miss the one backdoor throw attempt, it usually ends up on Broadway and if you don’t quite finish the backfoot slide, it can hang right in a southpaw’s wheelhouse.

Perhaps Cousins ​​feels that Ramírez is almost adjusting his timing on the slider as he changes the speed back to the sinker.

Cousins ​​tries to steal a front door call called strike three, but the pitch is a ball high all the way to the plate so an easy take from Ramírez forces a full count.

Cousins ​​has sailed both his sinkers high and arm side and may find the slider is the best way to avoid the walk.

This is the best of the encounter, hanging on the inside corner until you make a sharp turn towards Ramírez at the last moment. The break is just late enough for Ramírez to give chase and it’s his turn to get lucky and catch a piece to stay alive.

Now that Cousins ​​has planted the seed in Ramírez that he won’t concede and isn’t afraid to throw his slider in a three-ball count, he’s set him up perfectly for the sinker.

Ramírez still has his timing set on the slider and is late as he whiffs through this elevated heater for the strikeout. This is the beauty of having a big velocity difference between your fastball and your main secondary offering – the change in velocity is enough to fool a hitter even if you don’t have razor-sharp command.

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He may not be flawless in the postseason, but Cousins ​​has given the Yankees some huge zeros, without which they wouldn’t be where they are today. As he demonstrated by striking out the Guardians’ three most dangerous hitters in the eighth inning of a tie game, he has the recklessness and steely mentality to neutralize any part of any lineup. His appearances alongside Tim Hill and Mark Leiter Jr. were the unsung heroes of the ALCS, and that trio showing the courage to navigate the postseason’s top spots takes a tremendous amount of pressure off of Luke Weaver, Clay Holmes and Tommy. Kahnle, putting the Yankees bullpen in an encouraging spot heading into the World Series.