The New York Yankees announced that they have placed LHP Ryan Yarbrough on the IL with a right oblique strain, as the team loses it’s fifth starter ahead of his start tomorrow against the Reds.
He has been a revelation for the Yankees this season, proving a 3.90 ERA across 55.1 innings pitched as both a reliever and starter.
Since the Yankees have moved Yarbrough to their rotation, he’s posted a 3.83 ERA in eight starts with 33 strikeouts in 40 IP, helping the rotation stabilize when Marcus Stroman and Carlos Carrasco struggled.
Marcus Stroman is currently rehabbing and could fill that rotation spot, as could veteran starter JT Brubaker who made his Yankees debut yesterday.
Ryan Yarbrough Hits the IL With Oblique Strain, Yankees Have Rotation Hole
Rotation depth is key, and the Yankees now have four starters on the IL with Ryan Yarbrough suffering an oblique strain.
Luis Gil went down with a right lat strain that he’s hoping to return from in the next month or so, but shortly after that the team lost Gerrit Cole to a season-ending UCL tear.
Marcus Stroman is on a rehab assignment after dealing with a knee injury, you could argue the arms they have on the IL could form a strong rotation with the right three starter.
That might have been Clarke Schmidt, who began the season on the IL with a shoulder issue before returning and pitching at an extremely high level.
With Yarbrough sidelined, it opens up the door to adding a starter to the rotation, and there are a few routes we could see them go here.
READ MORE: The Yankees have a super-charged platoon at designated hitter
Tomorrow the Yankees will roll with Allan Winans as the starter according to Brendan Kuty of The Athletic, and the right-hander has a 0.90 ERA across 50 IP with a 29.4% K%.
What they do for the long-term remains to be seen, as Marcus Stroman could return to the team in the coming weeks to supplement the rotation, and JT Brubaker might be an answer to their issues as well.
Cam Schlittler, one of the team’s top prospects, is in Triple-A and has been brilliant in his brief time at that level, but there’s risk involved in rushing a prospect’s promotion.
Allan Winans will make an important start with a chance to potentially carve out a role on this staff the way Ryan Yarbrough did, but without their solid left-hander, the Yankees are sporting a weakened staff.
!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“has-featured-video”,”true”)})}();