New York Yankees: James Kaprielian Shut Down
By Joe Perri
The New York Yankees may have dodged a bullet with the recent diagnosis on James Kaprielian‘s elbow.
One of the New York Yankees top prospects, James Kaprielian, has been shutdown with elbow inflammation after his start in High- A Tampa last Thursday night. Here’s a summary of the official announcement from the Yankees regarding Kaprielian’s injury:
The 22-year-old right-hander underwent an MRI from Yankees team physician which “revealed inflammation in his right elbow.” The Yankees said Kaprielian “will be treated conservatively — rest followed by a throwing program.”
The Yankees may have caught a break, and nipped any further damage to Kaprielian’s elbow in the bud. In early September of last season, Nathan Eovaldi had the same diagnosis as Kaprielian. Eovaldi missed about a month of live action and went through a throwing program. Had the Yankees advanced to the ALDS, there was a chance Eovaldi would have pitched in that series.
While the team will treat this injury with caution because there’s no rush in bringing Kaprielian to the Majors, Yankees brass seems to think he’ll be ok. “The MRI came out good for us,” Girardi said. “He should be fine.”
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Kaprielian has been tearing up High-A Tampa this year. In just three starts he is 2-1 with a 1.50 ERA, a 0.611 WHIP and 23 strikeouts in just 18 innings pitched. He was clearly too good for single A ball, and the Yankees were preparing him for a fast track to the Major Leagues.
He was only throwing about 5-6 innings each start, similar to what they had Severino do last year as he ripped through the minor leagues with just 19 starts in AA/AAA. However, James Kaprielian is thought of as a more polished prospect than ‘Sevy’ was, and could have climbed at a higher rate. Unfortunately for Kaprielian, he will have to wait at least a month to get back on his mission to the majors.
An interesting note on Kaprielian’s last start:
Normally, this would be good news. Who wouldn’t want their future ace throwing 99 mph consistently? The only problem is that James Kaprielian was never know for an over-powering fastball. At UCLA, James’ fb hovered around 92-93. In his spring training invite with the Yankees, he was sitting around 94-95 with the fastball.
Is it just a coincidence that the elbow inflammation occurred a few days after a start where he was throwing almost 100 mph consistently? Maybe, maybe not – but it’s certainly something to take note of.
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After a week that brought Tommy John surgery to two Yankee relievers (Brandon Pinder, Nick Rumbelow) the team may have caught a break with their future ace.