TAMPA – Clark Schmidt completed his bullpen session Monday morning and although the Yankees were able to exhale slightly, they may not have left the woods yet.
It was only a few days after Schmidt had thrown that he had trouble. So, right-handers of the Yankees have to go through them to prove that shoulder fatigue is a minor speed bump, not another dagger of rotation. However, UberConfident Schmidt expects it to be the former instead of the latter.
“If there was any big concern, I wouldn't throw it,” Schmidt said after throwing about 24 pitches in a bullpen session at Stein Brenner Field.
“Obviously this week has been a little late and I've been a little more careful with the times. And when you lose a couple guy in the rotation, you don't want to make the little ones bigger. So just be smart, it feels really good today.”
If everything goes smoothly in the few days of Schmidt's recovery, you can return to game action on Wednesday or Thursday.
By doing so, he might be ready to start the season on time, but the Yankees had already planned to start his sixth game of the season.
“To be honest, I played late in the season and went to the World Series. “I shut down throwing longer than I should have, but that's a bit, I don't really know until you go through it. It's kind of an attempt by an error.
“For me, I shut down a little too long and caught up behind eight balls. But it feels good now.”
The Yankees have already lost season and Jerit Cole (Tommy John's surgery) in Lewis Gill (rat stock) until at least June. Losing Schmidt in all sorts of extensions will increase the already thin depth even further.
Schmidt missed over three months in the middle of last season due to rat tension, but he is now trying to use the experience to help him.
He said Monday that he threw “a few weeks” and LAT issues last year, creating something that could have been a smaller issue.
“You learn from that mistake you had last year, but it's holding hands. If we felt that, or I didn't throw it right now if I felt that I was at a high risk,” Schmidt said. “It's just smart and careful. But thankfully, I didn't have to shut down and put the ball down and revamp the workload. As far as workload goes, it feels like we're in a good place.”
