New York Yankees Lose Rising Star Pitcher to IL

The New York Yankees' seemingly invincible armor has taken a hit.

On Thursday evening, the Yankees surprisingly placed right-handed starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt on the 15-day injured list with a right lat strain, retroactive to May 27, as the team announced.

Losing Schmidt is a tough blow for a Yankee rotation that has been dominant in 2024, despite missing their reigning American League Cy Young Award winning ace, Gerrit Cole, who is making his way back from an elbow injury. Cole has not thrown a pitch in a live game since the early portion of Spring Training, but is inching towards a rehab assignment after throwing 43-pitches on Thursday down in Tampa, Florida.

In the meantime, young arms like Schmidt and Luis Gil have emerged as rising stars behind veterans Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman and Nestor Cortes. Without Cole, the Yankees' rotation has shockingly posted a remarkable 2.69 ERA as a staff, which is the best mark in the AL and second-best total in baseball behind the Philadelphia Phillies.

Now that Schmidt is out for at least the near future, the Yankees will have to figure out who is going to fill-in for the righty in the interim. Veteran hurler Luke Weaver has been more than solid in a long relief role this season, posting a 2.91 ERA in 34 innings. However, he has not thrown more than two innings in an appearance in the regular season, so he would need to be stretched out in order to join the rotation.

Schmidt, a first-round pick of the Yankees in the 2017 MLB Draft, was stalled by injuries earlier in his career, but was starting to come into his own in 2024. In 11 starts, the 28-year-old went 5-3 with a 2.52 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 67 strikeouts across 60 innings.

The Yankees will hope that Schmidt's lat injury is nothing serious, so he can return when eligible to come off the IL in two weeks.

This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/yankees as New York Yankees Lose Rising Star Pitcher to IL .