NEW YORK — Corey Kluber played catch Friday, the first step to see if he will be able to get back on a mound.
The veteran right-hander was shut down May 26 with what the team said was a strained scapula muscle in his right shoulder, but he sought opinions from two other doctors over the last week. While the Yankees didn’t update the diagnosis other than to say there has been a lot of wear and tear on his shoulder, the rehab plan is basically to see if he can slowly ramp back up to a point where he can pitch effectively.
“I think ultimately, it’s going to come down to, can he get back to that point of where he’s ready to pitch and be effective,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before Friday night’s series-opener against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium “So, pain tolerance is obviously part of that. Usually, when you’re having pain, that’s an indicator that something else is going on, or something I mean that’s part of it. And those will be all things that are considered along the way as we go.”
Boone said that he believes that it will still be at least two months if Kluber works his way back.
“I don’t think he’s necessarily getting ramped up right now,’ the Yankees manager said. “There will be catch play here for I’m assuming several days, and then there’ll be these little checkpoints of ‘OK, now, do we graduate to the next thing?‘ So as we sit here, right now, he’s doing really well, he feels really good. So hopefully, you know, this is another step in the process of getting him back.”
Boone said the diagnosis from the two second opinion was interesting, but came down to “you’ve got a guy with a lot of innings and a veteran pitcher. I think it’s trying to understand what an acute injury is. What are some chronic things that are just wear and tear of a guy that’s had a lot of innings on his arm."
The Yankees signed the two-time Cy Young winner this winter with 1,342 2/3 innings on his right arm and after he had missed all but one inning of last season because of a torn muscle in his shoulder. The Yankees felt comfortable with his health because he worked out at Eric Cressey’s facility this offseason. Cressey is also employed by the Yankees as the director of sports performance and health.
“Obviously, we were able to close the information gap because Eric Cressey has been [Kluber’s] personal trainer for quite some time. So having on-the-ground knowledge is obviously very comforting because typically you get the outside information and you just have to decide whether you can trust it well or not,” Yankees GM Brian Cashman said at the time they signed Kluber. “And so hearing it right from Eric’s mouth, about how he’s responding and what he’s been doing, clearly there’s a lot of comfort there.”
Kluber pitched 53 1/3 innings before being shut down, including a no-hitter in his second to last start.
