Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt hopes to be back with the team 'within August'
Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt conducts a baseball clinic in Massapequa on Thursday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt, more than two months removed from his last start, hopes to be back on an MLB mound “within August.”
But before he ramps up toward the postseason push, the righthander carved out some time for the next generation of baseball players.
Schmidt helped run a clinic for an estimated 70 boys and girls, from kindergarten to sixth grade, hosted by the Massapequa PAL at the Lou Anthony Sports Complex in Massapequa Thursday night.
“Any time you can be back involved in the community and be able to get around the kids and, especially right on the baseball field, it’s kind of like home to me,” Schmidt said. “So it brings up memories when I was playing youth baseball and everything like that. So it’s a lot of fun to be able to be around the kids and try to give them some tips here and there.”
Schmidt (right lat strain) is on the 60-day injured list and has not pitched since May 26. The 28-year-old has made 11 starts this season, going 5-3 with a 2.52 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 60 2/3 innings.
He threw a bullpen session on July 20 for the first time since his injury. The next step is facing live hitters, which Schmidt said will happen “definitely within the week.” He should begin a rehab assignment shortly after.
“It’s been a long process,” Schmidt said. “Definitely chomping at the bit to get back out there, but very excited. It’s tough watching the team, but obviously they’re playing really well right now. So it’s obviously really fun to watch, but excited to be able to help them again.”
Schmidt said he felt a “little handcuffed” not being able to help the Yankees through their struggles earlier this summer. But with the team on a five-game winning streak and just a half-game back of the first-place Orioles in the AL East entering Thursday, Schmidt is looking forward to providing a boost.
As far as Schmidt’s interactions with the kids at the clinic, it was a lot of, “who’s better, Aaron Judge or Juan Soto?” Fourth-grader Matthew Vecchione, a big Yankees fan and a pitcher himself, said, unsurprisingly, that his favorite players were Judge and Soto. But he was also looking forward to picking up some tangible tips from the first Yankee he's ever met.
“[How] to throw different pitches,” Vecchione, who currently throws a fastball and a changeup, said of what he'd like to learn. “… Curveball, two-seam, cutter, pitches like that.”
Despite the Yankees’ ups and downs, they entered Thursday tied for the most wins in baseball. Schmidt, who has just 2 1/3 career postseason innings (all in 2022), knows the stakes moving forward.
“I think everybody knows the expectations around the Yankees,” Schmidt said. “It’s every year we’re trying to compete for a World Series and win a World Series and get over that hump.
“So I would say that’s definitely the expectation."
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
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