The Yankees are down yet another starting pitcher for perhaps the next year-plus.
RHP Clarke Schmidt underwent an MRI Friday that showed damage to the UCL in his right elbow, and manager Aaron Boone said Saturday that Tommy John surgery is likely.
“He’s probably going to have to have surgery, likely Tommy John surgery,” Boone said Saturday. “He’s getting a second opinion and things now, but not great news on that front. We’ll see what goes on here in the next couple days.”
Schmidt, 29, had Tommy John surgery just before the Yankees drafted him back in 2017, and with a usual timeline of 15 months or so to fully recover, it’s possible Schmidt could miss all of next season as well.
“He’s obviously devastated and bummed out,” Boone said. “But Clarke’s way is, you’ve got to flip the script. He’s getting his mind into, ‘Let’s get it fixed and get on with it and start to get after the rehab portion of it.’ I think mentally, that’s where he’s at.”
Schmidt missed the first three weeks of the season with rotator cuff tendinitis, and it was learned he had been battling forearm tightness since early June before leaving Thursday’s game in Toronto after three innings because of that. It was also making it harder for him to recover between starts, which led the Yankees to give him extra rest for his previous start against the Athletics.
And now, he’s gone for the foreseeable future if TJS is indeed the course, and finishes the season with a 3.32 ERA in 78 2/3 innings over 14 starts.
“He’s become a really good starting pitcher in this league,” Boone said. “It’s a tough blow, but every team has their share of these things that happen. Hopefully we get some guys back in the mix soon. It will create another opportunity for somebody else to step in and pick up the slack.”
Schmidt’s absence leaves another hole in a Yankees rotation that lost Gerrit Cole to Tommy John surgery earlier this year, has not had Luis Gil all season due to a lat strain, and is also currently without Ryan Yarbrough, on the IL with an oblique strain.
There are reports that the Yankees will call up top prospect Cam Schlittler to start this coming week against Seattle, ostensibly in Schmidt’s next turn through the rotation, but after that, they don’t need a fifth starter again until July 22 behind Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, and rookie Will Warren.
How they view Schlittler’s start and future could also determine what they do at the trade deadline in terms of trying to add a starter, as Yarbrough is still shut down and, while Gil could be starting a rehab assignment as early as next week, he still likely won’t be back until mid-August at the earliest.
The team will also have to decide on their future with Schmidt, who is arbitration-eligible the next two winters but is unlikely to pitch again until 2027, his final year of team control. He missed significant time in 2021 with an elbow strain, almost half of last season due to a lat strain, and now the Tommy John surgery.