The last time Clarke Schmidt was on the Yankee Stadium mound before Tuesday, he cut his live session short because of forearm cramping.
Three weeks later, he got through an 18-pitch live session feeling good, with a rehab assignment up next if he recovers well in the coming days.
At a time when the Yankees have taken some hits in their pitching department with injuries to Max Fried and Ryan Weathers, Schmidt’s potential return — albeit in a bullpen role — from Tommy John surgery looms large if he can make it to the finish line without any setbacks.
“I think he could really help us,” manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday. “Obviously he’s been a really good starter in this league. He’s not going to get back to that this year, but to get him, when he’s on his game, he’s got a lot of weapons that could really land him a role down there, whether it’s an inning, a couple innings, whatever it may be.”
There will be a delicate balance ahead for Schmidt, whose rehab assignment will likely be more about shortening the period between his outings than building up his pitch count.
He is coming off major elbow surgery, so there will still be guardrails in how the Yankees use him.
But he is also coming back to a playoff race, so there will not be much margin for error as he tries to settle back in on the fly.
“There’s a little bit of training wheels at first, but I’m coming in in big situations right here, in a pennant race, so I understand that,” Schmidt said. “I kind of embrace that pressure of, ‘Hey, there’s expectation. I know you’re coming off of surgery, but we got to get outs here.’ I’m trying to get outs, trying to compete and be competitive and be a guy they can rely on.
“You see it’s working for Gerrit [Cole], and he puts his pants on just like I do.”
Pitching coach Matt Blake indicated that at some point, the Yankees will need to see Schmidt pitch with only one day between outings.
“Having an extra body in September helps to provide some flexibility, but it’s hard to protect one-inning guys like that,” Blake said. “I think we want to feel comfortable with him managing the up-downs and pitch-off-pitch. But the stuff looked good today.”
Fried’s stay on the 15-day injured list might actually end up being just the minimum.
The lefty, again dealing with a left elbow bone bruise, threw four innings and 60 pitches of live batting practice Monday, putting him in play to possibly be activated Saturday — the first day he is eligible — for one of the doubleheader games against the Red Sox.
“Potentially,” Boone said. “But we’ll see where we are as these next couple days unfold.”
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In the meantime, Elmer Rodríguez had a locker in the clubhouse Tuesday and could be part of Wednesday’s pitching plan in some form — as a starter or bulk reliever — depending on how the first game of the series against the Astros went.
In a move that could have been made at any time over the past two months without much repercussion, the Yankees transferred Giancarlo Stanton to the 60-day injured list Tuesday to make room for reliever Justin Topa on the 40-man roster.
The procedural move comes roughly two months after Stanton eclipsed 60 days on the injured list, dealing with two strains in his right calf and now one in his left.
