Masahiro Tanaka suffered a setback in his rehab from a partially torn elbow ligament late last week and had to be shut down with what was ultimately diagnosed as fatigue.
Tests came back clean, so it was a simple dead arm phase during his rehab.On Saturday, Tanaka threw 34 pitches in the bullpen at Yankee Stadium, his first time throwing off a mound since the setback last week. Afterwards he told reporters, including
Chad Jennings of the Journal News, that everything went fine and he is over the arm fatigue.
“I feel that it's way stronger than it was, so way better,” Tanaka said. “I think the fatigue is done.”
...
“Not worried (about how the arm will feel tomorrow),” Tanaka said. “One, because it was a bullpen today, and two, that I really do feel that I'm getting stronger, so I'm really not worried about it.”
Manager Joe Girardi said he will get together with Tanaka, the training staff and everyone else involved to discuss the next step. Tanaka could face hitters in either live batting practice or a simulated game in the coming days.
Prior to the setback, Tanaka had thrown two simulated games and stretched his pitch count up to 49. The Yankees were -- and still are, at this point -- planning to have him make a few starts later this month. Tommy John surgery will remain a possibility until he gets back into game action and shows the elbow ligament is sound following a platelet-rich plasma treatment and rehab.
Tanaka, 25, is 12-4 with a 2.51 ERA (153 ERA+), 1.01 WHIP and 135 strikeouts against only 19 walks in 129 1/3 innings this year. The Yankees have 22 games remaining, so there appears to be enough time for him to make a start with the MLB team after throwing another simulated game or two.
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Originally Posted by EmpireMaker
