Vidal Nuno gets first crack at Nova slot

NEW YORK – The major-league scouts passed along some advice to a 5-foot-9, 145-pound California kid with a fastball riding in the slow lane from 80 to 83 mph — try college ball.

"In high school, they had a couple of scouts that just told me, 'You've got to bulk up. You've got to throw a little bit harder to get signed,' " Vidal Nuno said. "In my conference, seven guys got drafted. They threw harder or they were bigger at that time. It was a lesson learned."

The lefty took the advice, attending Southwestern College, a JUCO in San Diego, for two years and Baker University in Kansas for two years. His reward was a 48th-round entry pass into the Cleveland Indians organization, which gave up on him after two seasons, forcing him into independent ball to try to get back on the highway toward the big leagues.

Now here he is at 26, packing 210 pounds on a 5-11 frame, with a fastball that still isn't all that fast at 87 to 90 but with command of all his pitches, including the same considerable curve that was so effective back at Sweetwater High.

Here he is, the Yankees' newly declared fifth starter after Ivan Nova's elbow injury. Here he is, with the shot he always wanted, starting Saturday against the Angels at Yankee Stadium.

"It's an opportunity," Nuno said before Friday night's series opener. "Trying to pitch every five days is a dream come true. But now it's back to business and trying to help the team win."

The team needs him to pitch in. Nova isn't coming back this season, not after Tommy John surgery scheduled for Tuesday at Dr. James Andrews' well-used elbow repair shop in Alabama.

Nuno has done well in his four Yankees starts scattered over these last two seasons, going 1-1 with a 1.64 ERA. He worked five shutout innings in a spot start April 20 at Tampa Bay.

"I think it's a big stretch for him and for our club, trying to solidify that role," Joe Girardi said. "He's a strike thrower that can change speeds, that can throw any pitch at any time.

"I think that's his MO. He'll throw a curveball any time. He'll throw a slider any time, a changeup, a fastball. It doesn't matter the count. And he's able to move the ball around. The other thing that I think he does very well is he works very quickly. And players enjoy playing behind that."

The Yankees plucked him out of the Frontier League during the 2011 season after he spent six weeks with the Washington Wild Things in Pennsylvania. Nuno earned the James P. Dawson Award as the outstanding rookie in spring training last year, then was summoned twice from Triple-A in the first two months.

Nuno went 1-2 with a 2.25 ERA in five games, three of them starts.