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Yankees manager Aaron Boone

The starting pitching rotation that carried the New York Yankees to the franchise’s 41st World Series appearance in 2024 will look extremely unfamiliar in 2024. Gone are ace Gerrit Cole, the 2023 American League Cy Young winner, with Tommy John surgery, and lefty Nestor Cortes, traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for closer Devin Williams.

Rookie of the Year Luis Gil is out for at least three months with a high-grade lat strain.Marcus Stroman whose down-the-stretch performance was so bad he was left off the Yankees’ postseason roster, will be back for better or worse due to the multiple pitching injuries.

In addition, the organization’s second-ranked pitching prospect Chase Hampton is also out for the season with Tommy John surgery.

One More Starter May be Out For Opening Day

Now, another Yankees starter — the organization’s 2017 first-round draft pick, 16th overall, out of South Carolina — appears highly likely to start the 2025 season on the injured list as well.

Clarke Schmidt, who had been the Yankees’ projected fifth starter but now is probably the No. 3, has been dealing with what manager Aaron Boone called a “cranky” back, followed by a sore shoulder that caused him to be scratched from a scheduled start last week. But the 29-year-old Schmidt has not appeared on the mound in a spring training game since.

On Friday, Boone said it was “possible” that Schmidt would miss the start off the season. Though the team claims that Schmidt’s back and shoulder are now healthy, he remains behind other starters in his throwing program. In a live batting practice session on Thursday, Schmidt threw only 32 pitches, according to a New York Post report.

“For reference, Max Fried threw 32 pitches in a two-inning live batting practice session on Feb. 20, one full month before Schmidt got there on Thursday,” the Post reported.

When the team heads north to get ready for the 2025 season opener against the Brewers at Yankee Stadium on March 27, Schmidt appears likely to stay behind in Tampa, the Yankees’ spring training home, where he can continue to build his pitch count to 70 or 80, “instead of leaving the Yankees short,” the Post reported.

‘Batty’ Theory Pushed to Explain Stanton Elbow Pain

Also on Friday, the Yankees received a bizarre update on the injury to postseason home run hero Giancarlo Stanton, who reportedly is suffering from painfully injured tendons in not just one but both elbows. Stanton has been receiving PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injections to avoid surgery in the elbows that would end the 35-year-old’s season.

Stanton is entering the 11th-season on his 13-year, $325 million contract, a deal he signed when he was still with the Miami Marlins.

According to a report by longtime MLB insider journalist Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Stanton’s injuries may have been caused by a piece of unfortunate, bad advice from a Yankees staff member.

“There’s a theory going around that Giancarlo Stanton’s bat might be the cause of elbow tendon issues, and while Yankees doctors apparently presume the theory is downright batty, it’s certainly making the rounds,” Heyman wrote. “It seems a bat switch was recommended to Stanton last year. The recommender is no longer around the Yankees.”

Alexander Wilson of Empire Sports Media explained the significance of switching bats mid-season, in a Friday report.

“In Stanton’s case, that adjustment might have disrupted his balance and swing mechanics, unknowingly placing additional strain on his elbows,” Wilson wrote. “Sometimes, even the smallest alterations can lead to significant consequences.”

Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. Vankin is also the author of five nonfiction books on a variety of topics, as well as nine graphic novels including most recently “Last of the Gladiators” published by Dynamite Entertainment. More about Jonathan Vankin