The worm killer learns from the K man

In 2008, no one in the AL struck out more hitters than A.J. Burnett, and only Tim Lincecum in the NL and CC Sabathia in two leagues topped Burnett’s 231 K’s. In an effort to spread the strike out wealth, Burnett has been coaching Chien-Ming Wang on the finer points of mixing and matching pitches. Wang’s progress this year will be one of the more compelling Yankee pitching stories. He’s not the team’s number one starter, and his heavy sinker provides a great contrast to Joba Chamberlain, Sabathia and Burnett’s strike out-oriented approach. If Wang can up those K/9 IP numbers just a tick, the Yanks’ pitching will be that much better.