New York Yankees closer Luke Weaver is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with a hamstring injury according to reports.
Weaver is believed to have suffered the injury over the weekend during his team’s series vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers. The right hander appeared in Saturday’s contest, and began warming up to enter the game on Sunday, but told trainers he gelt discomfort in his hamstring and was ultimately shut down.
His absence is a significant blow to the Yankees late game rotation, as Weaver had registered a 1-1 record, with a sparkling 1.05 ERA, 0.70 WHIP, and 8 saves across 25.2 IP thus far. The 6’2″ hurler was moved into the closers role after offseason acquisition Devin Williams was battered around to begin the season.
While the team hasn’t made it official yet, it’s expected that New York will place Weaver on the injured list, while activating Fernando Cruz.
Williams is the most likely candidate to take over closing duties in Weaver’s absence. After starting the season with an inflated ERA of 11.25, the former All-Star has held opponents scoreless in 11 of his past 13 appearances.
That being said, his peripheral numbers still aren’t close to where they were while a member of the Milwaukee Brewers. Williams has struck out 28 batters through 21.2 IP in the Bronx, whereas he sat down 38 batters in that same time frame last year after returning from a back injury.
The hard throwing righty has the pedigree to get things back on track, but in all likelihood, Yankees fans will still be white knuckling it through the late innings of Williams’ appearances until he notches a few saves over the coming weeks.
Up next for New York is a 7:05pm ET showdown with the Cleveland Guardians Tuesday night.
Photo: Jeffrey Hyde. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.