Chamberlain— who suffered what some doctors thought was a career-ending ankle injury only four months ago— made his first rehab appearance with the Gulf Coast Yankees and his outing, though short, was a welcome sight.
The righthander pitched one encouraging inning after suffering a bizarre trampoline accident in March after having Tommy John surgery last summer. It was the first time the Yankees really saw their reliever since the elbow surgery and it was definitely sooner than they expected.
Chamberlain vowed to be back on the mound this season after dislocating his ankle while with his son at a Florida recreation center.
"It's the start of the rehab process, so hopefully we get him back no later than the first week of August," said general manger Brian Cashman.
The rightie faced four rookie batters from the Pirates in Bradenton, Fla.. After the leadoff batter reached second on a couple of errors, Chamberlain got a groundout before striking out the last two hitters he faced.
"It's just one outing and against a level that you can't tell much from," said Cashman. "But that's what we know he's capable of throwing."
Chamberlain— who has been shuffled between the starting rotation and the bullpen throughout his career— would have most certainly been a middle reliever this year. Even with the loss of Mariano Rivera, the Yankees bullpen has been surprisingly deep and efficient this season.
"I wish we had him sooner," Cashman said. "He could have recovered from Tommy John and been with us since May or maybe June. But we've survived without him."
Still, you can never have enough pitching.
No comments:
Post a Comment