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The Yankees can’t get away from the injury bug. On Tuesday afternoon, the team placed Tommy Kahnle on the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to April 16th. The club indicated that he is suffering from right shoulder tendinitis. As a corresponding move, Luis Cessa has been recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Kahnle, 28, struggled mightily in the early goings of the 2018 season. He pitched to a 6.14 ERA, with a 5.68 FIP, across 7.1 innings. His 9.82 BB/9 and 1.23 HR/9 rates were far worse than his career average. He also experienced a noticeable dip in velocity.
The right-hander didn’t reveal his discomfort immediately. Instead, he attributed his poor performance to his mechanics being out of sync. “I’m more trying to figure out what’s wrong at this point,” Kahnle told Brendan Kuty last week. “I think it’s mechanical. I’ve been all over the place a little bit lately. Just trying to find it.”
On the bright side, it appears that the Yankees aren’t too concerned about the severity of Kahnle’s injury.
Aaron Boone said that Tommy Kahnle had an MRI today, but they’re optimistic this is a minor situation. “We’re hoping that this is something that we can knock out with a few days of rest.”
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) April 17, 2018
Cessa figures to take his place in the bullpen. The 25-yer-old has tossed two innings this year and has yet to allow a run. Given his arsenal, it would be interesting to see how he takes to pitching as a one-inning reliever. With Kahnle on the shelf, Cessa could get his chance. You never know if this could be a breakout opportunity.
Hopefully Kahnle gets healthy soon and returns to his 2017 form. In the meantime though, this is addition by subtraction. He was burning the club with each outing. Maybe Cessa will give the Yankees a better chance to win.