Yankees manager Aaron Boone gave a handful of injury updates on Saturday morning prior to the team’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, including the latest on Anthony Rizzo, Clarke Schmidt, and Ian Hamilton.
Decision on Rizzo coming
Prior to Friday’s game, Boone suggested that Rizzo could be added to the roster on Sunday as one of the team’s September call-ups. Rizzo went on to play seven innings in his rehab assignment with Double-A Somerset, going 0-for-3 at the plate. Boone said Saturday that he plans to talk to the veteran before making an official decision.
“I think well, I haven’t talked to him yet today,” Boone said. “So I kinda want to get with him and then we’ll make a call on that moving forward… I think good. Everything I heard was fine. But I want to talk to him too.”
Boone was then asked if he’s concerned with Rizzo’s results in the minors, as he’s gone just 2-for-11 with a home run in five games with the Patriots since joining the team on Aug. 23.
“Not really, I feel like he’s racked up quite a bit of volume over the last few weeks. Getting live looks, Trajeckt,” Boone said. “So it’s more about how he’s bouncing back physically, how he looks. I thought, starting a week or 10 days ago when I saw him hitting live, I thought he looked really good. I know he feels really good physically. I like the mental place he’s in right now, just my conversations with him over the last week. I’ll see him again today and we’ll make the call.”
Rizzo last played on June 16 when he suffered a forearm fracture against the Red Sox. Before his injury, he was hitting .223 with eight homers and 28 RBI over 70 games.
Next steps for Schmidt
Schmidt made his second rehab start with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday night, allowing one run on three hits and one walk over three innings. Boone said that Schmidt will throw a side on Saturday before deciding what’s next for the right-hander.
“He has a side today, so we’ll decide that,” Boone said. “He’s lined up to go Monday in another rehab start. So we’ll see, we’ll kinda get through today, probably make that call by tomorrow for sure.”
Boone clarified that the Yanks will decide in the next 24 hours if Schmidt will make the rehab start or travel with the team to Texas to face the Rangers.
“He’s lined up to pitch in the rehab game, that’s probably my lean right now,” Boone added. “We’re also lined up in our rotation and he’s not built up. So it’s like, what’s the best thing? Is it to continue to build him up, build more volume, so that’s what we weigh right now. Physically feel like he’s very much ready, but he’s not built up to where he’s gonna end up. And you got guys within the rotation, an off day Thursday, so it’s a little complicated there.”
Schmidt has been out since May 26 with a lat strain. Over 11 games with the Yankees this season, he owned a 5-3 record, 2.52 ERA, and 1.14 WHIP with 67 strikeouts.
Hamilton scratched from rehab outing
Hamilton tossed a perfect 1.1 innings (12 pitches, 10 strikes) with three strikeouts on Aug. 27 with Double-A Somerset in his second rehab outing. He was scheduled to pitch again on Friday, but was scratched due to back spasms.
Luckily, Boone doesn’t believe it to be serious. He added that Hamilton is back with the team on Saturday and could play catch before their game.
“Yeah he had some back spasms yesterday, so got scratched from his outing,” Boone said. “So he’s here today. Doesn’t seem like a major thing. He might even go out and play catch today. He just had some back spasms that acted up before he went out.”
