When New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone gave his first public statements of 2025 MLB spring training back on February 11, he assured Yankee fans that all was well with the health of his players as they started their campaign for a second straight trip to the World Series. Pre-season physical exams were all good, the 51-year-old Yankee skipper entering his eighth season at the helm assured the fan base. Sadly, his words turned out to have been spoken too soon.
Just four days after announcing that postseason home run hero â he hit seven in the 2024 playoffs â Giancarlo Stanton arrived at camp with soreness in both elbows, endangering his availability for Opening Day, the Yankees list of injury woes has now expanded to six players. And the team has not even played a spring training game yet.
The casualties include the Bronx Bombers’ second-ranked pitching prospect. Righty Chase Hampton reported a new injury to the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his pitching elbow. The potentially season-ending setback comes after a series of injuries to his back, groin, and elbow limited Hampton to just seven starts over three different Yankees minor league affiliates in 2024.
‘Something Going On’ in Top Prospect’s UCL
According to Boone, Hampton was suffering from a flexor strain â the same injury he contracted in last year’s spring training â as well as âsomething going on” in his right UCL. Hampton, as the organization’s No. 6-ranked prospect, ranked behind only 25-year-old righthander Will Warren, the No. 5 prospect, who started five games at the big league level for the Yankees last year.
The pitching woes did not stop with Hampton, however. Righty Clarke Schmidt had a breakout season at age 28 in 2024 (he turned 29 on Thursday), posting a 2.85 ERA in 16 starts while striking out 93 in 85 1/3 innings for the Yankees. Schmidt is projected to hold down the back end of a strong Yankees rotation topped by 2023 Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole, $218 million lefty free agent acquisition Max Fried, and 2024 American League Rookie of the Year Luis Gil.
But Schmidt is now complaining of a “cranky” back, according to Boone, who also insisted that Schmidt “really is fine.”
Yankee fans, however, do not seem inclined to trust Boone at this point. According to Robert Casey, head writer for the Yankee fan blog Bleeding Yankee Blue, “Boone had no idea what he was talking about,” when he claimed the Yankees were injury free at the oustet of spring training.
“He just said something to get past the question,” Casey wrote on Thursday. “Honestly, he might be the worst so-called ‘leader’ the Yankees have ever had, and thatâs saying something â because letâs not forget, Stump Merrill had the 1990 Yankees running in quicksand.”
‘Horror Movie’ of Bronx Bombers’ Camp Continues
Casey described the Yankees spring training situation as “a horror movie.” And indeed, the Yankees’ string of possible Injured List candidates did not stop with Stanton, Hampton, and Schmidt. The Yankees in 2022 obtained Los Angeles Dodgers highly-ranked pitching prospect Clayton Beeter in a trade for Joey Gallo. Beeter made three brief appearances in relief last year and the team now projects the 26-year-old righty as a full-time reliever.
But Beeter has been hampered by a shoulder injury that is causing the Yankees to “hold their breath” over whether the prospect will be ready to assume his role this season, according to Empire Sports Media.
Another Pair of Health Setbacks for Yankees
But wait! There’s more.
Backup center fielder Trent Grisham, a key depth piece for the Yankees, showed up at spring training hobbled by a hamstring injury. And finally, at least for now, reliever Jake Cousins â who shined in 37 bullpen appearances in 2024 with a 2.37 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 38 innings â arrived at camp with a forearm strain.
But in a rare bit of Yankees good news this spring, Cousins appears to have avoided what the team feared was damage to his UCL, telling MLB Network reporter Bryan Hoch that imaging showed the ligament “looked great.”
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