Carlos Carrasco’s offseason work paying dividends in Yankees camp

TAMPA — Carlos Carrasco may not have visited the fountain of youth, but he’s hoping he has found the fountain of velocity.

The veteran right-hander, who signed with the Yankees on a minor league deal last week to provide starting depth, has been encouraged by the early returns of an offseason spent refining his mechanics and the new life it has given his fastball.

It will take more than just that for Carrasco to become a factor for the Yankees at some point this season, but he believes he is at least putting himself in a better position to do so with a tick up in velocity.

Carrasco, who turns 38 in March, pitched to a 5.64 ERA in 21 starts for the Guardians last season while averaging 91.6 mph on his fastball.

Hitters crushed the pitch, batting .337 with a .554 slugging percentage.

But from the day the Yankees ended the Guardians’ season in the ALCS in October, Carrasco has gone to work on staying back in his delivery.

And in his live batting practice session Monday at the club’s player development complex — with no adrenaline yet, he noted — Carrasco’s fastball was sitting 92-93 mph.

“I felt kind of stuck a little bit when I was pushing myself, so I didn’t have the power in my arm to throw,” Carrasco said Wednesday. “But now that I’ve been working for literally almost four months, it’s getting there.”

It is part of the reason why Carrasco believes he still has more left in the tank to add to a 15-year career in the big leagues.

“I feel [I have] a lot,” Carrasco said. “To be honest with you — thank you for bringing that up — but I’m going to be 38 years old. But I’ve proven to myself in the last live BP that I can go more than that. My pitches are still moving a lot, too.”

Carrasco has spent his offseasons in Tampa for the last 20 years, he said, which made the Yankees a strong fit so he could stay close to his family this spring.

The Yankees, meanwhile, entered camp with six big league starters for five rotation spots, but if Marcus Stroman is traded, Carrasco could offer upper-level depth along with Will Warren and JT Brubaker.

“We’ll see what we have as we continue to move forward,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But if he has a little more power back in there, obviously the track record speaks for itself.”