NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Yankees placed starting pitcher Ryan Weathers on the 15-day injured list with a left forearm flexor strain on Sunday and the left-hander is optimistic he can return by the end of the season.
Weathers was awaiting consultation with team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad. Manager Aaron Boone said Weathers will not throw for two to four weeks.
“Big picture, obviously really good news,” Boone said before the Yankees concluded a three-game series against Toronto. “We’ll try and let this thing calm down here and hopefully get him back in some capacity before the end.”
Weathers exited Saturday’s 4-3 loss in the fourth inning with left forearm discomfort after throwing a sweeper out of the strike zone to Myles Straw. After the pitch, Weathers circled the mound and called for catcher Austin Wells.
“I just knew something was off,” Weathers said. “Kind of didn’t feel right. I could have kept pitching no doubt, but it was like, this is stupid. There is time to be a competitor and a time to be smart and we’re kind of in the vulnerable part of the year where I want to pitch in September and I want to pitch in the postseason, so I thought that was the best option yesterday.”
Weathers said he initially felt pain throwing a pitch to Daz Cameron and it continued when he allowed a single to rookie Charles McAdoo.
The 26-year-old son of former New York reliever David Weathers joined the Yankees in a January trade with the Marlins following consecutive injury-shortened seasons. Weathers did not make his season debut last season until May 14 because of a strained left flexor and missed between June 7 and Sept. 11 with a strained left lat.
“I personally don’t think so,” Weathers said when asked if this injury was worse than last season. “I kind of had a similar injury at the end of spring training last year with the Marlins. Yesterday’s scans revealed that it was less than what it was last year.”
Weathers is 5-8 with a 3.60 ERA in 25 starts this year after allowing two runs and eight hits in 3 1/3 innings on Saturday. He also has set career highs with 143 strikeouts and 137 1/3 innings.
Weathers was 3-7 with a 4.15 ERA in his first 18 starts and is 2-1 with a 2.27 ERA in seven starts since the All-Star break. He permitted 16 homers in 97 2/3 innings before the break and only two in 39 2/3 innings in his last seven starts.
Weathers became the fourth Yankee starting pitcher to spend time on the injured list this season. Gerrit Cole missed the first 51 games before returning from elbow ligament reconstruction on May 22. Max Fried is on the injured list for the second time with a bone bruised in his left elbow and Carlos Rodón had two IL stints due to left elbow injuries.
To replace Weathers on the roster, Brendan Beck was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre. Beck allowed five runs in 3 2/3 innings July 4 against Minnesota in a spot start and made his big league debut May 7 against Texas.
He was 5-6 with a 3.63 ERA over 16 starts in 2024, when he was sidelined by a strained left index finger.
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