New York Yankees right-handed starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt will be shut down for four to six weeks due to a right lat strain, manager Aaron Boone said Thursday.
“It’s going to be a while,” Boone said of Schmidt’s timeline to throw again.
Schmidt was placed on the 15-day injured list on Thursday, in a move retroactive to Monday. The Yankees recalled right-hander Cody Morris from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in a corresponding move.
Schmidt, 28, last pitched on Sunday, when he allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits over five innings of a 5-2 loss at San Diego. He fanned six batters and walked three.
Schmidt is 5-3 with a career-low 2.52 ERA over 11 starts to begin the season. He has 67 strikeouts and 20 walks over 60⅔ innings.
It’s unknown how long Schmidt will be out, but the Yankees expect reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole to make his season debut sometime in June, while Luis Gil has carved out a place in the rotation with a dominant May (6-0, 0.70 ERA in six starts).
Morris, 27, is in his first year in the Yankees organization after a December trade from the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for outfielder Estevan Florial. Morris is 1-2 with a 3.41 ERA in 13 career MLB appearances (five starts) across 2022-23 for Cleveland.
He has gone 3-0 with a 2.82 ERA in 13 games (one start) for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Information from Field Level Media was used in this report.