According to Tim Bontemps of the NY Post, one of the Yankees top left-handed pitching prospects, Jeremy Bleich, has been put on the DL with a shoulder injury that could require surgery to fix.
Here is more from the Post:
“Mark Newman, the Yankees’ senior vice president of baseball operations, was downcast when asked about the issues with Bleich’s shoulder yesterday.
“‘I don’t know,’ he said when asked about Bleich’s return. ‘We’re (still) getting some information back from the doctors…he had more tests (yesterday).'”
This is pretty rough news for the Yankees because despite Bleich’s struggles since being promoted to Double-A—he was 3-6 with a 6.65 ERA in 65 innings last season and 3-2 with a 4.79 ERA in 41.1 innings this year—he has been one of their top prospects since being drafted.
The Yankees signed him in the supplemental round of the 2008 amateur draft. He is a talented lefty who hits up to 94 MPH on the radar gun and mixes in a combination of a fastball, changeup, and slider to keep hitters off balance. While pitching for Tampa last season, Bleich was his most impressive putting up a 6-4 record with a 3.40 ERA in 79.1 innings.
Bleich is just 22-years old still, so shoulder surgery far from kills his career. But shoulder surgery, unlike elbow surgery, is far from a sure thing. Bleich has come under criticism for not being a good enough pitcher to get drafted so high and largely survived on his pitchablity. That could take a major hit if his fastball is no longer able to sit in the low to mid 90s and instead hits only around 89 MPH.
As usual, we’ll keep you updated if there is anything else reported on this situation.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com