There is no shortage of starting pitchers in Major League Baseball, but there’s a shortage of quality ones. Clarke Schmidt carried his 4-4 record and 3.09 ERA into Toronto as the struggling New York Yankees took another blow to their team. In the past few weeks, nothing has seemed to go right for the team, and now Schmidt appears to be headed for Tommy John surgery.
Schmidt Touches on a Pitcher’s Mindset About Playing Through Pain
There’s a time and a place for a pitcher to go out there when he’s under an extreme amount of pain. For Schmidt, it wasn’t extreme, it was just a little extra soreness. He’s been in this league long enough to know what works for him, as he started 32 games two seasons ago. With just 30 starts in his last two seasons combined, Schmidt’s 2025 campaign is now over.
Here’s what Clarke Schmidt said in Toronto about why he didn’t get testing earlier:
“There’s a lot of things that go into that. I was feeling fine and my results were really good, and being able to go out there every five days and I got myself back to where I was executing…
— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) July 5, 2025
“There’s a lot of things that go into that. I was feeling fine and my results were really good, and being able to go out there every five days, and I got myself back to where I was executing pitches and my stuff,” he said. “I’m still throwing velocity-wise where I normally am. So nothing alarming from that end. Guys are dealing with stuff all the time throughout the year.”
He continued, “So if I was to be like, ‘Oh, I’m extra sore this week, let me pull the shoot and not go out there and pitch,’ then I don’t know if I would ever pitch. That goes for a lot of guys in this league. There comes a point in the season where your 100% is a lot different than what it looks like in spring training and in the beginning of the year. So, yeah, I think that’s probably the main reason.”
Schmidt had a phenomenal three-game stretch from June 11 to June 21 where he didn’t give up a run in 20.2 innings. He picked up a pair of wins during those games, as the seven and two-thirds innings he went against the Los Angeles was his longest start of the season. Shockingly, he didn’t record a decision in that quality start as the Yankees lost, 1-0 in 11 innings.
Now, the Yankees will be forced to look elsewhere as Tommy John surgery would put an end to his season. It’s a surgery that has already plagued numerous pitchers this season, with the most well-known being Corbin Burnes. Schmidt had given up seven earned runs in his last nine innings on the mound, as he allowed three home runs in his last two starts.