Domingo German hid his hip pain from team trainers, and now he’s merely the latest of the New York Yankees lost to injury.
In the middle of a breakout year for the New York Yankees, Domingo German wasn’t about to miss starts over a little strain. But living in the moment ended up hurting him in the long run when a hip flexor injury landed him on the 10-day IL.
According to the New York Post’s Ken Davidoff, German began experiencing hip pain on May 26. That’s the same day he gave up four home runs to the bottom-feeding Kansas City Royals.
“I didn’t tell the team at the time because I felt like it was the kind of injury that I was going to get through,” German told Davidoff through an interpreter.
“In between starts, it would kind of go away. So I didn’t think it was something that would put me out of the rotation. I thought it was something I could deal with and I could get over it.”
Instead, the 24-year-old’s ERA has risen by 20 or more points in each of his two starts since the discomfort popped up.
Despite the rough patch, the righty still holds a respectable 3.86 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 70 innings.
Now, some in the media may harp on the fact that the Yankees are running out of pitchers. After all, Luis Severino is still what seems like ages away from returning; James Paxton is injury prone; CC Sabathia has the left knee of a septuagenarian; and Dallas Keuchel just signed with the Atlanta Braves.
In fact, it’s so bad that Aaron Boone has already committed to using an opener in lieu of German, per Davidoff. However, here’s a fun fact to counteract the doom and gloom:
New York is a sterling 4-0 when Chad Green, the likely opener, takes the hill to start a game. That means their replacing a 9-2 starter with an undefeated one. Not too shabby.
The Bombers are 40-24 despite the absence of guys like Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Dellin Betances. They can recover from losing German, too.
Take a rain check on the panic, Yankees fans. You’ve got a subway series to enjoy.
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