The injury bug continues to hit the New York Yankees as relief pitcher Scott Effross injured his leg after throwing just one pitch during Tuesday’s spring training game against the Minnesota Twins.
The severity of the injury is unknown, but Effross grabbed his hamstring area before walking off with a team trainer.
The 31-year-old was acquired by the Yankees at the 2022 MLB trade deadline. Since then, he’s had trouble staying healthy and now extends his long list of injuries.
Effross missed the entirety of the 2023 season due to Tommy John surgery in his right elbow that he received at the end of the 2022 campaign. The right-hander only appeared in three games in 2024 and posted a 5.40 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in 3.1 innings pitched.
Shortly after he was acquired by the Yankees, he suffered a shoulder injury that landed him on the 15-day injured list.
Effross sits in the high 80s to low 90s on his fastball, but gets a lot of swings and misses on his sweeper and changeup while getting a ton of ground balls. In a Yankees’ bullpen full of high velocity and devastating offspeed, Effross changes speeds and keeps opposing hitters off balance.
He hasn’t made many appearances in pinstripes, but losing him this early, especially after the team reported that Chase Hampton will need Tommy John surgery would be a huge blow to the bullpen.
There’s going to be more injuries, it’s baseball. It’s a long season and you can’t have too many pitchers – New York needs spring training to end as soon as possible, considering all of the injuries they’ve had to deal with just a week into spring training.
