New York Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt will likely require Tommy John surgery, manager Aaron Boone told reporters on Saturday.
“I think it’s pretty much inevitable,” Boone said before Saturday’s matchup with the New York Mets.
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Schmidt pitched three innings in his last start Thursday before leaving with forearm tightness. He allowed three runs on four hits and two walks, throwing 55 pitches facing the Toronto Blue Jays.
“Earlier on in the game, it felt OK,” Schmidt said afterward, via the Associated Press. “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,” he added.
The Yankees placed him on the 15-day injured list on Friday with right forearm tightness. That is often a precursor to a ligament tear in the elbow that necessitates reconstructive surgery. Boone said that Schmidt underwent an MRI and is awaiting the results.
Schmidt said that he’d been experiencing the forearm tightness since June 4 and was having difficulty recovering fully between starts, according to MLB.com.
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In 14 starts for the Yankees this season, Schmidt compiled a 3.32 ERA with 73 strikeouts in 78 2/3 innings. He began the season on the IL due to tendinitis in his rotator cuff, but joined the Yankees’ rotation in mid-April.
The Yankees had already lost Gerrit Cole for the season when he underwent Tommy John surgery during the spring. Schmidt will now miss the rest of the 2025 campaign and likely most of 2026 as well.
Luis Gil, last year’s AL Rookie of the Year, also has not yet pitched for the team this season while recovering from a lat strain. However, he’s expected to begin a rehab assignment soon and could rejoin the Yankees sometime after the All-Star break. Ryan Yarbrough could also return soon after MLB’s midseason break after going on the IL with a right oblique strain on June 23.
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Other internal starting pitching options for the Yankees could include Allan Winans, who struggled in a spot start but was excellent in Triple-A before being called up. Brendan Beck was recently promoted to Triple-A, where he has a 2.93 ERA after three starts. In his 11 appearances at Double-A, he compiled a 1.82 ERA with 52 strikeouts in 54 1/3 innings. Cam Schlitter, ranked as the Yankees’ No. 10 prospect by MLB.com, has a 3.80 ERA in five Triple-A starts with an overall mark of 2.82 in the minors this season.
The Yankees have lost five straight games going into Saturday’s matchup, putting them two games behind the Blue Jays for first place in the AL East.
