Just days before pitchers and catchers report to spring training for the New York Yankees, Masahiro Tanaka has already gotten to work. It was said reports have been good on the right-hander's elbow this offseason and he's working to get himself to full health for 2015.
Tanaka endured a 34-minute throwing session on Tuesday in Tampa during which he threw softly off flat ground, according to George A. King III of the New York Post. The 26-year-old began throwing at 60 feet, then moved back to 200 feet, came back down to 90 feet, and finished with 16 pitches at 60 feet. King noted the Japanese hurler appeared to be fine after the throwing session, but he didn't speak to reporters. He plans to on Friday.
The right-hander successfully rehabbed his partially torn UCL after suffering the injury on July 8. He returned at the end of the 2014 season to make two starts, but his final outing was concerning because he didn't make it out of the second inning and didn't appear as sharp as he once was. But Tanaka and the Yankees dedicated the entire offseason to getting that $175 million arm back to full strength and ready for a 30-plus start season.
"The Yankees consider the 26-year-old a healthy player now, and he went through a normal offseason program, although pitching coach Larry Rothschild has stressed the club will watch that vulnerable elbow closely," writes Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News.
Rothschild said last week that reports on Tanaka's elbow have been positive, but caution remains.
"You have to be aware of it, but we'll be aware to put schedules together and things like that to try to keep him healthy," he told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. "So far, everything has been good. That doesn't mean that it will be going forward, but we're going to do everything we can to make sure that hopefully it is."
Hoch mentioned earlier in the offseason that the Yankees were "operating under the expectation" that, in 2015, Tanaka would return to form prior to the injury when he was an AL Cy Young candidate (12-4 with a 2.51 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 135 strikeouts in 18 starts). So far so good. Tanaka hasn't reported any pain in his elbow since before his final two starts of 2014 and he appears to be in good health heading into spring training.
New York is counting on a healthy Tanaka because their starting rotation is what will seemingly make or break their 2015 campaign. He should be ready for the start of the season if all goes as planned.
