With Yankees' rotation in tatters, Clarke Schmidt finally makes 2021 debut
Yankees starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt delivers against the Mets during the first inning at Citi Field on Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
In their best-case scenario, the Yankees hoped in spring training to get 100 or so innings each from young righthanders Clarke Schmidt, Deivi Garcia and Michael King.
Well, you know what they say about the best-laid plans . . . they often go awry.
Schmidt made his 2021 debut on Sunday night when the Yankees called him up to start against the Mets in the Subway Series finale at Citi Field.
The 25-year-old Schmidt, who is ranked as the Yankees’ fifth-best prospect by MLB.com, has been out since spring training with an elbow strain.
He made eight minor league appearances before the Yankees called him up instead of starting struggling lefthander Andrew Heaney, who manager Aaron Boone said was his other option.
"Excited to give [Schmidt] the ball," Boone said. "He's been throwing the ball well, for the most part, since obviously coming back from injury."
The Yankees staked Schmidt to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Giancarlo Stanton’s one-out RBI double was the Yankees’ first hit with a runner in scoring position since Wednesday (they had been 0-for-their-last-15).
Joey Gallo made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly — only the second of his seven-year big-league career.
Schmidt walked his first batter, Jonathan Villar, on four pitches, and gave up a one-out RBI single to Michael Conforto in a 25-pitch bottom of the first.
Schmidt, who made three big-league appearances in 2020, threw 27 1/3 rehab innings in the minors this season at four levels and compiled a 3.00 ERA.
The Yankees, who are in the midst of a stretch of 20 consecutive games without a day off, are sending out an SOS for starters with Jameson Taillon (right ankle tendon injury) on the injured list.
Gerrit Cole said he is "on track" to return on Tuesday, a week after leaving a start with left hamstring tightness. Rookie Luis Gil will make his fifth big-league start on Monday afternoon in a Yankee Stadium makeup game against Minnesota.
Schmidt, Garcia and King would have come in handy as rotation-fillers or bullpen arms as the Yankees navigated a season like no other after the 60-game 2020 campaign.
In spring training, King spoke of his plans to be a jack-of-all-trades.
"There are going to be a lot of innings [available] this year, because we have no idea if all of our starters are going to be able to go 200 innings," King said on March 20. "I want to make an impact on the team, and my goal is 100, so I don’t care if they’re starts, piggybacks, long relief, whatever it is. I think that if I contribute 100 solid innings to this team, it would be very beneficial for this season."
That was before a middle finger contusion cost the 26-year-old two months starting on July 4. King, who returned on Friday, is 0-4 with a 3.68 ERA in 15 games (51 1/3 innings).
The biggest disappointment among the three young righthanders is Garcia, who performed well for the Yankees down the stretch in 2020 and even pitched as an opener in a playoff game.
Garcia, who was beaten out by Domingo German for the fifth starter’s job in spring training, made two spot starts for the Yankees early in the season and went 0-2 with a 6.48 ERA, throwing 8 1/3 total innings. He has not pitched in the majors since May 29.
The 22-year-old Garcia has regressed at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, going 3-7 with a 6.78 ERA and an unthinkable 65 walks in 85 innings.
Gil, 23, has been a pleasant surprise. He didn’t allow a run in his first 18 2/3 major-league innings.
In his last outing, on Wednesday against Toronto, Gil threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings but walked seven and left with the bases loaded. All three inherited runners scored and were charged to Gil, who allowed one hit and struck out six.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
