Dodgers' $13 Million All-Star Reveals How He Turned Around Once Struggling Career

For Kiby Yates, there was one thing that turned his career around — a split-fingered fastball.

Over the first four years of his major-league career, Yates posted a 4.78 ERA across four teams — the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Angels, and San Diego Padres — with a troubling 1.30 WHIP.

However, when he turned 30 in the spring of 2017, things began to shift because of a new pitch.

“I think the obvious answer would be the split, learning that,” Yates said to The Orange County Register's Bill Plunkett of his career turnaround.

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Yates can divide his career into two parts — before and after the split. He began learning the pitch with the Yankees in 2016 and then brought it with him to camp with the Angels in 2017.

“I took that (splitter) into Anaheim that spring camp, I was throwing it and I felt confident about it. I felt it was going to work,” Yates said. “I didn’t have the best spring but when I went to Triple-A that year early, I started figuring it out a little bit – how to throw it and how to get consistent movement.

“When I ended up in San Diego, I got with (pitching coach) Darren Balsley. He really kind of taught me how to do it – where my hand should be at release and all of that. He just helped make it consistent and got it better and better. I think the more I threw it, the more comfortable I got, the more I could command it, the more I understood I could get a consistent break if I do these few things. It kind of took off from there.”

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San Diego is really where Yates took a turn for the better, and since, he has thrown the splitter more than 40 percent of the time.

Yates thrived during his four seasons with the Padres but required Tommy John surgery in 2021, causing him to miss that season and most of the next. He later signed with the Atlanta Braves, where he had a strong rebound in his mid-30s, delivering a solid performance for the Braves in 2023 and an even more dominant one with the Texas Rangers in 2024.

The reliever, who grew up a Dodgers fan in Hawaii, signed a one-year, $13 million deal with Los Angeles in late January. He has been an All-Star twice and hopes to play a key role in a bullpen as the Dodgers look to become the first team to repeat as World Series champions in 25 years.

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