Yankees Starter Clarke Schmidt Placed on IL, Headed For Forearm Scan

Last updated: 2025/07/04 at 2:55 PM

BigP Published July 4, 2025

Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt was placed on the 15-day injured list because of right forearm soreness on Friday, one day after his start at Toronto was cut short following three innings.

A 29-year-old right-hander, Schmidt was set to have an MRI on Friday. New York also recalled right-hander Scott Effross and left-hander Jayvien Sandridge from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Right-hander Clayton Beeter had been optioned to the RailRiders after replacing Schmidt on Thursday night and taking the loss in the 8-5 defeat as the Yankees were swept in a four-game series and dropped out of the AL East lead.

Schmidt allowed three runs, four hits that included George Springer’s two-run homer and two walks. He said he’s been dealing with soreness in his arm since his June 4 outing against Cleveland.

“Earlier on in the game it felt OK,” Schmidt said. “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.”

Schmidt, who had Tommy John surgery in May 2017, is 4-4 with a 3.32 ERA in 14 starts. He left a June 21 start against Baltimore after throwing a career-high 103 pitches in seven hitless innings, part of a streak of 28.1 scoreless innings.

“Any time you’re getting an MRI on your forearm, or whatever the body part is, you’re not feeling happy about it,” Schmidt said. “I’m praying everything is going to be clean and minor. We’ll see what happens.”

Schmidt joins a number of Yankees’ starters already on the IL. Leo Gil, who made 29 starts with a 115 ERA+ for the Yankees last summer, is yet to debut in 2025 after suffering a lat strain – he is expected to begin a rehab assignment in the minors next week, however. Ryan Yarbrough, who has split the season between the rotation and bullpen, is is out with an oblique strain as of June 20. And ace Gerrit Cole is recovering from Tommy John surgery, performed in March, and will not return until 2026.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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