Yankees Ian Clarkin Out for Season Following Knee Surgery

New York Yankees pitching prospect Ian Clarkin will undergo knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus and will miss the remainder of the 2016 campaign.

Starting pitcher Ian Clarkin of the High-A Tampa Yankees will not pitch again this season according to his manager Pat Osburn, who told Randy Miller of NJ Advanced Media that Clarkin has “a little meniscus issue that he’s getting repaired.”

The 21-year-old lefty was first placed on the minor league disabled list on July 19th, but the exact nature of the injury was not disclosed by the Yankees. It’s never fun to see a guy injured, but the fact that this is not another arm injury for Clarkin is a big relief.

Injury issues are nothing new for Clarkin. He only made three starts after being selected in the first round of the 2013 draft (33rd overall) because he rolled an ankle during a workout. The next season Clarkin had one DL stint and was eventually shut down by the Yankees on August 7th to manage his innings. Finally, he missed the entire 2015 regular season with elbow inflammation.

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Despite the recent knee injury, the 2016 season has been something of a win for Ian Clarkin. His 98 innings pitched are the most of his young professional career. Clarkin built on a strong performance in last year’s Arizona Fall League by pitching to a 3.31 ERA and 3.23 FIP in 18 starts for the High-A Tampa Yankees.

Although his strikeout numbers were down further than you’d like to see from a top prospect (6.61 K/9), Clarkin did a nice job of limiting walks (2.76 BB/9) and keeping the ball in the yard (0.36 HR/9). Free passes had been an issue for the lefty during his AFL stint (5.11 BB/9), but it appears that was only him shaking off the rust of not pitching for a year.

Even though he’s pitched well this year, Clarkin dropped from 10th on MLB Pipeline’s preseason prospect list to 16th in their recent update. That’s probably more about the addition of players like Gleyber Torres (1st) and Billy McKinney (5th) to the system, as well as the breakout performances of starters Chance Adams (11th) and Vicente Campos (14th), rather then any shortcoming by Clarkin this season. 

Here’s an excerpt from MLB Pipeline’s free scouting report:

"Clarkin has regained the low-90s fastball he had when he was fully healthy in 2014, but he doesn’t have the same plus curveball. His changeup is now his best secondary offering, and he also has added a slider that rivals his present curve. Known for his precocious feel for pitching, he’s throwing more strikes than ever this year."

Ian Clarkin has probably shown enough in 2016 to merit a promotion to Double-A Trenton to begin next season. If he can stay find a way to stay on the mound consistently going forward, he seems like a good bet to get his first taste of the big leagues at some point in 2017, and could have a chance to establish himself in the Yankees rotation by 2018ish.