The 2025 Season Should Be a Make-or-Break Year for This Yankee
By Derek McAdam
March 19, 2025
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The New York Yankees’ 2025 starting rotation was originally slated to be amongst one of the best in the league. Brian Cashman was bringing back Gerrit Cole, brought Max Fried in during free agency, and also had the reigning AL Rookie of the Year in Luis Gil. However, Cole will now be out for the season following Tommy John Surgery and Gil is expected to miss some time with a shoulder injury.
While the starting rotation has taken a hit, the Yankees still have a rotation with solid potential. Along with Fried, Carlos Rodon is coming off much improved 2024 campaign and Marcus Stroman is also ready for his second season in Yankee pinstripes. But there is one piece to this puzzle that has several question marks attached, and is also a pitcher that is entering a crucial year in his career.
Clarke Schmidt is going to be depended on more than ever, as he is currently the longest-tenured Yankee amongst the starting rotation staff. Schmidt’s MLB career, so far, has been an interesting one. Schmidt has made 48 starts over the past two seasons after having made most of his appearances out of the bullpen in 2022.
The 29-year old gave the Yankees 32 starts in 2023 with a 4.64 ERA over 159 innings, but seemed to make significant progress in 2024 when he lowered his ERA to 2.85. However, he only made 16 starts and pitched 85.1 innings last year due to injury, which has already been a concern for him in Spring Training. However, the good news for Schmidt and the Yankees is that he should be ready to go in time for the regular season.
With the current injury problems that the Yankees have, the starting rotation will likely not be as good as it could be with Cole and Gil out. And realistically, that means Schmidt could fall into the No. 2 or 3 slot, depending on how Cashman and Aaron Boone want to fill the rotation out. This is great news for Schmidt, who has been a No. 4 or 5 starter for the Yankees over the past two seasons.
And while this is great news for him, it also comes with increased pressure. But the big question is whether or not Schmidt will be able to overcome this. One of Schmidt’s biggest issues is that his statistics start to decline once he reaches the 75-pitch mark. While many pitchers start to experience fatigue at this point, it seems as if this mark can turn a really good start for Schmidt into a mediocre start in just a couple of pitches.
If Schmidt is able to get over this hump and even extend this “breaking point” from 75 to even 85 pitches, that could mean a lot for the team. The Yankees have relied on their bullpen a lot over the past few seasons, and this season does not look to be any different due to the injuries and uncertainty of who could end up being the fifth starter.
The Yankees still have Schmidt under team control through the 2027 season, so it isn’t as if Schmidt needs to have a big year to prove himself before he hits free agency. But the Yankees also want to know if they have a legitimate starter in Schmidt. It’s not to say that he does not have the arsenal, because he definitely does. But he has to prove to himself and the team that he can be trusted not only to finish strong after throwing 75 pitches, but also pitch past the 5th inning.
In fairness to him, he did average more than five innings per start last year, but the Yankees will likely need him to stretch that even more into at least the 6th inning. And of course, the longer he can go, the better off the Yankees will be.
But this is the time that Schmidt needs to prove himself. He has allowed himself enough time to get accustomed to the Majors and settle into the Bronx. Another big question that many Yankee fans are going to keep their eyes on is whether Schmidt can stay healthy.
Schmidt was scratched from a start earlier in the week due to a sore shoulder, prompting rightful fears from the Yankee fanbase that the rotation was about to take another hit. However, Schmidt brushed off the worries and said that he would be ready to go. That’s great news, but it doesn’t mean that another possible injury cannot happen down the line. He did miss three months last year with a lat strain, so that could be something to look out for this season.
Overall, this is a big season for Schmidt. He needs to step up and be a dependable middle-of-the-rotation pitcher in this time of need. And hopefully, he will be able to make his first start on time, which is scheduled to be the sixth Yankee game of the season. We should have our answers very soon on whether that will actually happen.
If, if, if. Too many ifs.
good point about Schmidt being very effective for 5 innings and less effective after 75 pitches.
that has been noticeable and noticed.
with the rotation having been thinned out, it might serve the team's interests to avoid attempting to have Schmidt go longer than 75 or 80 pitches early on.
the team has many relievers, few starters....... and some of the relievers are pretty good.
if the team can count on getting a good ride from Schmidt up to mid-game
seems pretty logical to switch pitchers rather than to allow Schmidt to flounder
they can look for a longer ride from Clarke later in the season when, perhaps, the team has Gil and/or others
Schmidt is a good pitch, not a great pitcher. For him to bring real value to this team, he needs to eat innings. 75 -85 pitches will not get it done. Therein lies his problem.
Since Cole is out for the entire 2025 season due to TJS, maybe he could go back to being the Yankees defacto PC, like he was last year when he was on the IL. Or Andy Pettitte and/or Roger Clemens could be around more often and help Schmidt learn, or, alternatively, reinforce his own thinking of how to really pitch. You know, like if a batter can't touch a pitch and Schmidt gets strikes on it, keep throwing it, NOT throwing his entire pitch arsenal to every batter, remind him to go up/down/in/out, change speeds, show pitch. The more I look at it, my anger at Matt Blake could very well be misplaced, because Sam Briend might not let …