Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt likely needs Tommy John surgery, Aaron Boone says

Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News on Jul 5, 2025

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — The Yankees’ rotation suffered another significant blow, as Clarke Schmidt likely needs Tommy John surgery on his right elbow, manager Aaron Boone said.

The update came two days after Schmidt exited his start in Toronto with forearm tightness.

“Not great news on that front,” Boone said before Saturday’s game against the Mets at Citi Field.

Schmidt, 29, on Friday underwent an MRI, which appeared to reveal damage to his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL).

Tommy John surgery would end the right-hander’s season. Schmidt was still receiving second opinions, Boone said.

“We’re making sure we have all the opinions, but I think everyone knows what it is, pretty much,” Boone said. “Just want to make sure, but I think it’s pretty much inevitable.”

It would be the second Tommy John surgery for Schmidt, who previously underwent the operation during his junior season at South Carolina in 2017, shortly before the Yankees drafted him in the first round.

Schmidt left Thursday’s game after three innings and 55 pitches.

“Probably been dealing with this for three, four weeks,” Schmidt said after that 8-5 loss to the Blue Jays. “I think back to the Cleveland start [on June 4] was when I started dealing [with it], when we were bouncing back a little slower in between.”

Schmidt remained effective during that stretch, at one point throwing 28 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings in the longest such streak by a Yankees starter since 1961.

He hurled seven no-hit frames against the Baltimore Orioles on June 21 and exited that game with the no-hitter still intact. Schmidt acknowledged experiencing some fatigue toward the end of that gem, while Boone said he knew the righty was “done” physically that day after matching a career high with 103 pitches.

Overall, Schmidt is 4-4 with a 3.32 ERA in 14 starts this season.

“He’s become a really, really good starting pitcher in this league,” Boone said Saturday. “It’s a tough blow, but every team has their share of these things that happen. We’ve got to be able to absorb it and hopefully get some guys back in the mix soon and create another opportunity for somebody else.”

Schmidt is the latest prominent Yankees starter to go down with an injury. Gerrit Cole underwent Tommy John surgery in March, while Luis Gil has been out since spring training with a high-grade lat strain.

Ryan Yarbrough has been out since June 18 with an oblique strain.

The Yankees will add a starter to their major league staff in the coming week, Boone said.

Options at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre include Carlos Carrasco, who has a 5.91 ERA in eight MLB appearances this year, and Allan Winans, who has allowed six runs in 6 1/3 innings over two big league outings.

On Friday, Boone acknowledged that prospect Cam Schlittler had “put himself in the mix.” Schlittler, 24, has a 2.82 ERA over 15 minor league appearances this season, including five starts at Triple-A. He is the Yankees’ 10th-ranked prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.

Tommy John surgery typically carries a recovery timeline of at least 12 months, which would put Schmidt on track to miss a sizable portion of next season, too.

“When I talked to him a couple of hours ago, he was in pretty good spirits,” Boone said. “It is what it is. Unfortunate. In a lot of ways, obviously [he is] devastated and bummed out, but Clarke’s way is you’ve got to flip the script. He’s getting his mind into, ‘Let’s get it fixed and get on with it and start to get after the rehab.’ ”