From Bryan Hoch:
Yankees right-hander Luis Gil, who cut short a scheduled bullpen session last week due to discomfort near his right shoulder, was diagnosed with a high-grade right lat strain and will not throw for at least six weeks, manager Aaron Boone said Monday afternoon.
The reigning American League Rookie of the Year, Gil posted a 15-7 record and a 3.50 ERA in 29 starts last season, holding opponents to an AL-best .189 batting average (min. 150 innings).
Obviously, any injury to a major pitcher on the team that knocks him out for at least a month and a half (and likely more) is cause for concern, but this was definitely one of the best case scenarios for this particular situation. Lat strains are painful, but they tend not to effect you once you get over them. Clarke Schmidt was the same pitcher before and after his lat strain. It just takes you off the field for a long time to recover.
Gil should be back by the All-Star break, so that’s good news.
Obviously, Marcus Stroman will LIKELY now take over as the new #5 starter, but I wouldn’t be stunned if Will Warren steals the job from Stroman.
So, July it is.
Not much literature on Lat strains. Here’s a review: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10500456/
And here’s a case report about Jake Peavy:
https://sportssurgerychicago.com/attachments/2016/07/open-repair-acute-latissimus-tendon-avulsion-major-league-baseball-pitcher.pdf
Clarke Schmidt didn’t pitch from May 26th thru Sept 7.
Yeah, as Don notes, All Star break sounds about right. But if he could return in June, that’d be amazing.
NESN:When Verdugo underwent an awful 11-game slump to begin the month of August, he didn’t vow to spend a few extra hours in the batting cages or the film room. Instead, Verdugo blamed his tattoo ink as the root cause, claiming an allergic reaction between the ink on his hands and the material of his batting gloves made it difficult to hit.