Zack Britton’s 2021 is finally off and running.
Britton, who has missed the entire season so far after spring surgery to remove a bone chip from his left elbow, took the mound for the first time in 2021 on Saturday afternoon, pitching the first inning of Game 1 of the Double-A Somerset Patriots’ doubleheader against New Hampshire at TD Ballpark.
The lefty pitched a scoreless inning with one hit allowed, throwing 10 of 18 pitches for strikes but uncorking one wild pitch. He retired his first two batters by inducing a pair of groundouts, but Otto Lopez got up 3-0 before Britton battled back to 3-2 ahead of Lopez’s single.
That wild pitch moved Lopez to second, and after going 3-1 on Gabriel Moreno, he threw a called strike two before getting Moreno to ground out to second to end his first outing of the year.
“Overall it was pretty good. Obviously not sharp where I want to be, but very similar to where I’d be in a first outing in spring training,” he said. “My arm feels good, and I was excited to get out there, especially in front of fans. Today was really just getting used to everything, so I look forward to polishing my pitches up as I move forward. I’d love for it to have been a little warmer, but I responded well when it was cold, and I think that bodes well going forward.”
The outing was finally a sigh of relief in a tough last six months for Britton, who contracted COVID in January, then underwent surgery in early-March after feeling discomfort following a bullpen session in Spring Training. He then suffered a setback last week, as his rehab assignment was pushed back after he felt soreness following a simulated game – soreness attributed to scar tissue from the elbow surgery, something Britton and the Yankees’ medical team had anticipated.
“I was surprised, I felt no issues whatsoever until the soreness popped up after that sim game,” Britton said. “Dr. Ahmad was expecting me to have that kind of soreness, but I just never had it, so the timing was maybe a little later than we thought. As soon as we addressed it, though, I felt great. Just part of the process we knew about, but I feel good now.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said earlier in the week that he expects Britton to make “five or so” rehab outings before rejoining the Yankees in June, and that the lefty may not necessarily go back-to-back.
“At this stage of my career, I don’t think (back-to-backs) are as important as just getting the innings in and feeling like I’m where I need to be,” Britton said. “I’ve done that plenty in my career, and we’re pretty protective of how we use relievers these days; if you’re feeling good physically you can go back-to-back no problem, and if I’m where I need to be, I don’t think that will be a problem.”
So what does Britton, and what do the Yankees, need to see?
“When you’re going through spring training, you’re looking at getting a good feel for pitches and commanding the ball first, and then you build arm speed and velocity,” he said. “For me now, it’s about polishing things up – definitely commanding my sinker and not getting out of whack in my delivery. Right now I feel pretty raw, and I need to get it tuned up, so maybe a few more times off the mound will help that.”
He does expect to be in Somerset “for a while,” his next outing likely to come on Tuesday for a Patriots team that is five days into a 13-day, 12-game homestand, with a pair of six-game series against New Hampshire and Reading sandwiching an off day on Memorial Day.
“I’ll talk to Mike Shuck (one of the Yankees’ trainers) tomorrow when I come back to New York; I think we just wanted to see where I was with this outing before going forward,” Britton said.
The schedule does seem to line up to keep Britton from having to travel too much, though, as after Somerset’s homestand, Triple-A Scranton comes into Trenton on June 8 for a six-game series with Buffalo (who is playing at ARM & HAMMER Park this season), and the Yankees will be in Philly June 12-13 before starting a three-game set in Buffalo proper against the Blue Jays on June 15.
“The plan is kind of a moving target. In spring training, I’d usually be anywhere from seven to 10 innings, but I don’t think I’ll need that much here,” Britton said. “Right now it’s hard to say, but I think after the next couple of outings, I’ll have a better understanding of what I really need.”
Until then, though, Britton will enjoy pitching in the minors, and empathizing with the current crop of Baby Bombers as they try to travel the same road to The Show that the lefty once did in Baltimore.
“Any time you come to the minors, you remember the grind you put in to get to the big leagues, so you see the guys here and remember that and understand what they’re going through,” he said.
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