Yankees Notes: Schmidt, Volpe, Chisholm, Lombard

The Yankees were expected to send right-hander Clarke Schmidt to the mound against the Rays yesterday, but the right-hander wound up scratched from his start yesterday. MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch notes that Schmidt told reporters that he’s dealing with some soreness in his left side, but fortunately it appears to be fairly minor. Hoch adds that Schmidt even told the Yankees he would be able to take the ball yesterday, but the club opted to scratch him and push his start back to this coming Tuesday. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic notes that, per manager Aaron Boone, Schmidt underwent an MRI that came back clearn, suggesting the issue is a minor one.

That Schmidt’s soreness appears to be fairly manageable is surely a huge relief for New York. With Gerrit Cole out for the year and both Luis Gil and Marcus Stroman currently shelved with injuries of their own, losing Schmidt just three starts into his 2025 season would be a brutal blow for the Yanks. Allan Winans remains in Triple-A as a potential spot starter option, but the club’s depth is largely being used in the rotation already with Carlos Carrasco and Will Warren currently getting regular starts.

Schmidt’s 14 2/3 innings of work so far this year have hardly been inspiring, but it’s worth remembering that he’s just one year removed from posting a sterling 2.85 ERA and 3.58 FIP across 16 starts. That strong performance in 2024 suggested front-half of the rotation potential within Schmidt, and perhaps being careful with the side issue he’s currently dealing with is the best way to tap into as much of that potential as possible in a season where little is working within the club’s rotation aside from Max Fried.

Turning to the other major Yankees injury news from yesterday, Anthony Volpe had a bit of an injury scare in the eighth inning of yesterday’s game. Hoch writes that Volpe heard a “pop” in his left shoulder while attempting to field a grounder.

“It happened quick and it was scary, but after that, I felt OK and I felt like I had my strength,” Volpe said, as relayed by Hoch. “I’ve never really had anything else pop or dislocate or anything like that, so I have nothing to compare it to.”

As Hoch notes, those encouraging early comments can’t necessarily be taken as gospel just days after Volpe’s double play partner Jazz Chisholm Jr. expressed optimism that his injury was a fairly minor one just before being placed on the injured list for what figures to be a four-to-six week absence. An MRI of Chisholm’s oblique revealed three high-grade tears in the area, though fortunately the volume of tears does not appear to have significantly altered Chisholm’s timetable for return as the second baseman still expects to return in that four-to-six week time frame.

Chisholm’s injury is already testing the club’s middle infield depth and forcing a combination of Jorbit Vivas and Pablo Reyes to handle the keystone for the foreseeable future. That makes the idea of an injury for Volpe all the more concerning, but Hoch suggested that the shortstop will likely be sent for an MRI before he’s fully cleared to play again despite the fact that he finished yesterday’s game and already underwent an x-ray that revealed no structural damage. Even if the Yankees weren’t already suffering from a dearth of infield depth, losing Volpe would be a serious blow given that he’s putting up such encouraging numbers on offense.

After Volpe’s first two years saw him post well-below offensive numbers buoyed by Gold Glove-caliber defense at shortstop, the 24-year-old is actually hitting an impressive .233/.326/.442 with ten doubles, five homers, and a 10.6% walk rate in 33 games. That’s good for a 121 wRC+ so far this year, and Volpe’s excellent batted ball data suggests he may actually producing less than his underlying performance would suggest he should be. It’s an exciting potential breakout performance for the Yanks, and the fans in the Bronx are surely waiting with bated breathe for their potential budding star at shortstop to return to the lineup.

All the injuries piling up for the Yankees in the rotation and around the infield likely have many fans operating with one eye on the July 31 trade deadline. There’s plenty of room for improvement on this Yankees club, but there’s at least one prospect the club is expected to keep out of trade talks this summer as they pursue back-to-back World Series appearances after losing in five games to the Dodgers in last year’s Fall Classic. According to Brendan Kuty of The Athletic, that prospect is young infielder George Lombard Jr.

As relayed by Kuty, the club does not expect Lombard to help in the majors this year but nonetheless he’s viewed by some evaluators as the club’s only “untouchable” prospect, with Kuty suggesting that it would require a “Godfather” offer to convince the Yankees to part with the young infielder. Still just 19 until next month, Lombard was the club’s first-rounder back in 2023 and is so far hitting an excellent .329/.496/.488 at the High-A level this year, with a promotion to Double-A at some point in the near future potentially in the cards.

Given that the Yankees (per Kuty) viewed Lombard as untouchable last season, when he slashed just .231/.338/.334 across two levels of A-ball, it’s hardly a shock that they aren’t inclined to trade him now that he appears to have broken out in such a substantial way. Still, with controllable aces like Pablo Lopez already seeing their names swirl in the rumor mill, refusing to part with Lombard could make it difficult for the Yankees to land a top-flight starter this summer in what figures to be a very competitive market for pitching talent.