Yankees 2025 Roster Report Cards: Clarke Schmidt

There are few things more cruel in professional sports than a promising player getting injured. It’s part of the game, but it’s demoralizing for a multitude of reasons. While Clarke Schmidt doesn’t fit the billing of a burgeoning superstar or promising rookie that suffers a long-term injury, he was emerging as an above-average, consistent homegrown starter for the Yankees before undergoing Tommy John surgery in July.

When Schmidt was on the mound, he was consistent and effective, giving the Yankees 14 starts before being pulled from an early July start against the Blue Jays. While he did get the internal brace procedure that should allow him to return late in 2026, it’s unclear what his role will be going forward, and his status is now in question.

Grade: B

2025 Statistics: 14 GS, 78.2 IP, 3.32 ERA (123 ERA+), 3.95 FIP, 8.35 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 1.3 fWAR

2026 Contract Status: Arbitration, under control through 2027

Schmidt’s 2025 season got off on the wrong foot, as while the team was dealing with Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil’s injuries in spring training, the 29-year-old was scratched from a mid-March spring training start due to shoulder soreness and was eventually shut down to manage it. He started the season on the injured list due to rotator cuff tendinitis, but he had already resumed throwing by Opening Day and just needed to ramp up.

After a pair of minor league rehab assignments, Schmidt made his season debut on April 16 and was serviceable in 5.2 innings against the Royals. A trend of his pitching this season was shown right away, as Schmidt worked efficiently to nearly record a quality start with a strict pitch count of 75 pitches.

Once he built back up fully, he started going deeper into games. After a blowup start against Cleveland, he completed five innings in ten of his next 11 starts and routinely pitched in the sixth and seventh innings. He was also effective, allowing more than three runs twice all season.

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That’s been the brand for Schmidt, who, since a disastrous start to 2023, has been one of the more reliable pitchers in baseball when healthy. Since May 2023, he’s allowed three runs or fewer in 49 of his 54 starts. He’s no Gerrit Cole or Max Fried, but he’s been extremely reliable and has grown to be more efficient and get deeper into games.

His magnum opus was in June. After getting beaten up in the first inning on June 4 against the Guardians (who weirdly had his number this year), Schmidt embarked on the best stretch of his career with 28.1 consecutive scoreless innings. He took the loss after gritting through 5.2 choppy innings against Cleveland, but was spotless after that.

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After six shutout innings in Kansas City and a frustrating 7.2 innings no-decision against the Angels in the midst of the Yankees’ impossible offensive drought, Schmidt took the mound on June 21 against the Orioles. What started as a ho-hum Saturday game for a team trying to get out of a skid turned into a masterpiece, as Schmidt got through a shaky, two-walk first inning to no-hit the O’s through seven innings on 103 pitches.

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Aaron Boone decided to protect his starter and not risk him getting injured for the accolade, a decision that backfired when JT Brubaker came in as a mop-up reliever in a blowout. The more controversial thing, in my opinion, was the “check swing” that extended Gary Sanchez’s at-bat that turned into Baltimore’s only hit, but whatever.

The decision to pull Schmidt was controversial, but it wasn’t an actual decision. You’re chasing long-term success, not brief glory at the expense of your starter’s health. Unfortunately for Boone and the Yankees, the injury they tried to prevent on that sunny Saturday in the Bronx came just two starts later, when Schmidt was pulled after two innings in the finale of a season-altering four-game sweep at Rogers Centre. The diagnosis was a torn UCL and another long layoff.

Injuries have, unfortunately, defined Schmidt’s career to this point. He fell in the 2017 MLB Draft due to undergoing Tommy John in college, but the Yankees picked him at No. 16 overall out of South Carolina. Fun fact: He’s tied for the highest drafted Yankee since Derek Jeter!

After briefly debuting as a reliever in 2020, he missed much of the 2021 season due to an extensor strain in his elbow. He was healthy for 2022 and was an effective multi-inning reliever, but he had more promise as a starter. After finally stabilizing as a rotation stalwart in 2024, he suffered a lat strain that cost him over three months. He was even scratched for precautionary reasons in May for a minor side issue between his shoulder and elbow troubles.

That’s been the unfortunate asterisk in what’s been an otherwise quality career for Schmidt. He’s been mostly effective over the past four seasons when the team gets him on the mound, but the availability is a concern. As he gets closer to free agency and his arbitration numbers go up, it’s going to be worth watching what he means to the Yankees going forward.

He was tendered a deal for just under $5 million for 2026, a year he’ll mostly spend on the shelf, and has one more year of arbitration after. He seems like a guy you’d want to keep around for the long haul based on his production, but his health makes his future questionable. Add in that the Yankees are paying three big-money aces (Cole, Fried, Rodón), are pursuing a potential fourth in free agency/trade market, and the presence of their younger, controllable arms in Cam Schlittler, Luis Gil, and Will Warren, and suddenly, things look shaky for Clarke going forward.

I’m a big fan of his, and I have been for a while. What he provides when healthy is valuable for a team like the Yankees, but the “ifs” are starting to pile up for Schmidt.