The New York Yankees‘ rotation dealt with plenty of injuries last season, and Clarke Schmidt was one of them.
Schmidt underwent Tommy John surgery in July, and he’s hopeful to be ready for the backend of the 2026 season and the playoffs. Yet, as he reflects on last season and the injury, Schmidt believes his grip change was the reason for the injury.
“I think the No. 1 thing that played a factor was mid-season grip changes,” Schmidt recently told the Daily News. “You make grip changes, and you start to really put different stress on different areas of your forearm and stuff like that.”
Schmidt said he and the Yankees’ pitching coaches decided he needed to change his grip on his sweeper. The new pitch gave him more horizontal break, which was good against right-handers. However, in order to do that, he needed to grip the ball harder. That led to soreness in his forearm and resulted in him needing Tommy John surgery.
“I was getting a lot of really good results with it, so it’s hard to be like, ‘Oh, let’s stop throwing it,’” Schmidt said of the new sweeper. “It was like a double-edged sword.”
Schmidt went 4-4 with a 3.32 ERA in 14 starts last season.
Schmidt has Goals in Place For Rehab
Ahead of the 2026 MLB season, Schmidt has some clear goals he wants to hit this year.
Schmidt is hopeful he can pitch in the majors this season and make an impact down the stretch and into the playoffs for the Yankees.
“Obviously, I have goals and check marks that I want to hit, as far as when I want to come back and stuff like that. But it’s not written in stone,” Schmidt said, adding that he’ll stay in Tampa after spring training ends.
Schmidt, meanwhile, said he’s very motivated to get back and make an impact this season.
“You have to have goals and things that push you, but you can’t look too far ahead or reflect on the past, like, ‘Dang, I wish this didn’t happen’ or ‘Why me?’ It’s not like that at all,” Schmidt said. “I’m very hungry. I’m very driven, maybe more driven than I’ve ever been. Everything that I do right now is for baseball.
“It’s like 24/7, this is all I care about. All I think about is recovering and getting back. So I don’t know how long I’ll feel like that, but I definitely feel very, very motivated, and I’m very happy with where I’m at.”
Yankees Manager Delivers Update to Rotation
New York is one of the top teams in the MLB, and the Yankees are firmly a World Series contender.
The Yankees do have some injuries to the rotation. But manager Aaron Boone shared what he expects the rotation to be.
“I don’t think Carlos is going to be very long,” Boone said in a video posted on Feb. 8 on MLB Network Radio. “We’re in Tampa now. I watched him throw his bullpen two days ago, so he’s already well into his mountain progression. We’re not going to rush him back.
“Obviously, we want to make sure he’s built up properly, but I don’t expect it to be too long. Gerrit’s been doing great, but again, not something where we’re going to certainly rush him. But yeah, I do feel good about it. We’re talking about probably [Max] Fried, [Cam] Schlittler, [Will] Warren, [Ryan] Weathers, and [Luis] Gil to start the season in the rotation.”
The Yankees open their season on March 25 against the San Francisco Giants.
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