The Yankees will be without another valuable rotation arm for an indefinite period, as they placed right-hander Clarke Schmidt on the 15-day injured list Friday due to forearm tightness.
The concern level is justifiably high for Schmidt, whose start against the Blue Jays on Thursday was unexpectedly cut short after only three innings.
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He allowed three runs on four hits across 55 pitches, and said after the game he’s been dealing with soreness in his arm since his June 4 outing against the Guardians. He’s scheduled to undergo an MRI sometime Friday.
“Earlier on in the game it felt okay,” Schmidt told reporters. “As the game progressed, it sort of tightened up a little bit on me. I felt like the whole night I was kind of guarding it a little bit on the breaking balls, really not ripping them or trying to get a lot behind them….
“Any time you’re getting an MRI on your forearm, or whatever the body part is, you’re not feeling happy about it. I’m praying everything is going to be clean and minor. We’ll see what happens.”
In a corresponding move, the Yankees recalled relievers Scott Effross and Jayvien Sandridge from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for their weekend Subway Series with the Mets.
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While the beginning to Schmidt’s season was delayed a few weeks due to rotator cuff tendinitis, he’s produced numbers reflective of a new and improved pitcher. As one of the Yankees’ most reliable starters, the 29-year-old has logged a 3.32 ERA across 14 starts, and he wrapped up June with a laudable 1.95 ERA across five outings.
While the severity of Schmidt’s forearm issue remains unclear, he’s experienced a gut-wrenching injury before. He underwent Tommy John surgery back in May 2017, a month prior to being drafted in the first round by the Yankees out of South Carolina.
