The Yankees have more positive news regarding starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt’s recovery from Tommy John Surgery. Schmidt, who’s 30 years old and underwent the famous Tommy John procedure in July of 2025, has been ramping up his throwing program and is getting closer to returning to a big league mound at some point during the 2026 season for the organization.
Gary Phillips, who covers the Yankees as a beat writer for New York Daily News Sports, put out a tweet yesterday evening before last night’s game that “Clarke Schmidt threw on the mound today” and that Boone stated, “He’ll do that again on Friday, and then possibly a live,” as reported by Phillips on X. The Yankees hope to have Schmidt be one of the pitchers who are on the injured list, along with Luis Gil and Angel Chivilli, as other potential options who are also recovering from injuries themselves, as well as the Yankees’ second-best pitching prospect and No.4 overall prospect in 2026, right-handed hard-throwing reliever Carlos Lagrange.
GettyNEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 06: Clarke Schmidt #36 of the New York Yankees walks off the field after the fourth inning against the San Diego Padres at Yankee Stadium on May 06, 2025 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Yankees View Schmidt As Bullpen Option Currently
The plan for Schmidt at the moment, however, is not to contribute out of the starting rotation but from the bullpen, Phillips reported on Sunday in a tweet, which is what was relayed to him by manager Aaron Boone. Schmidt recently, during a throwing session on Tuesday, August 4th, reported “cramping,” which the Yankees assessed and treated, then had him return to the mound to continue his throwing program a couple days after the fact. Since then, Schmidt has been ramping up. Clarke was drafted in the mlb.com/news/yankees-draft-clarke-schmidt-in-first-round-c235987310″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>first round of the 2017 MLB Draft (16th overall) out of the University of South Carolina, where Schmidt excelled in his final season, posting a 4-2 record with a 1.34 ERA and 70 strikeouts in just 60 1/3 innings pitched in 2017.
When the Yankees drafted Schmidt, he was recovering from Tommy John surgery, his first as a collegiate pitcher. He would recover and then make his major league debut in 2020. Over parts of five seasons with the Yankees, primarily as a starting pitcher, Schmidt has posted a 3.82 ERA in 393.1 innings, with 384 strikeouts. Schmidt is a pitcher who relies heavily on movement to generate swing-and-miss and weak contact. His pitching arsenal consists of six pitches: cutter, knuckle curve, slider, sinker, sweeper, and four-seamer, per Baseball Savant.
GettyNEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 06: Clarke Schmidt #36 of the New York Yankees delivers a pitch in the first inning against the San Diego Padres at Yankee Stadium on May 06, 2025 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Schmidt’s Career Has Been Affected by Injuries
Schmidt’s best season arguably came in 2024. Despite being limited to just 85.1 innings, he posted an impressive 2.85 ERA with 93 strikeouts. Injuries have been a lingering factor for Schmidt in nearly every year of his big-league tenure, including elbow, foot, lat, rotator cuff, hamstring, and forearm injuries, all within five years dating back to 2021. The Yankees’ thought process in transitioning Schmidt to a reliever by this rationale makes sense, considering he’s pitched more than 158 innings in a big league season just once, in 2023. Besides the 2023 season, he hasn’t reached even 100 innings in prior years.
Schmidt’s ceiling so far in his big league career has shown more of a back-end starter type. Still, with a limited workload and a possible transition to the bullpen down the stretch for the Yankees, Schmidt could potentially play a key role for a Yankees team that could always use pitching upgrades, especially with the offensive woes and injuries they’ve had during the 2026 season.
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