Struggling Yankees New Announcement Reveals Tie For Unfortunate League Lead

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The New York Yankees have more pitchers having Tommy John surgery than any team but one.

The New York Yankees remain in first place in the American League East. But the Bronx Bombers in recent days have run into their first real slump of the year, dropping a season-high four straight and six of their last nine games — including five losses to their hated arch-rival, the Boston Red Sox.

Since May 27, less than three weeks ago, the Yankees have seen their lead over the second-place Tampa Bay Rays tighten from seven full games to a narrow 2 1/2 as they prepare for Tuesday’s meeting at Yankee Stadium with the Los Angeles Angels.

Heading into that game, the Yankees are coming off two straight shutout losses and have not scored a run since the ninth inning in a 4-3 loss to Boston on Saturday.

That the Yankees have maintained their success this season up until the last couple of weeks is remarkable considering the rash off injuries the team has experienced starting in spring training, especially to the pitching staff. When staff ace and 2023 Cy Young Award winning Garrett Cole underwent Tommy John surgery in March, the outlook for Yankees pitching looked bleak.

Latest Yankee Pitcher to Go Under Tommy John Knife

On Monday, the Yankees made a new announcement that could only be discouraging for team’s mound staff — and also tied the Yankees with the Chicago White Sox for the league lead in a category that neither they nor any other team ever want to top.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone announced that 30-year-old righty reliever Jake Cousins, who was already on the 60-day injured list will miss the remainder of the 2025 season, and much or even all of 2026 as well.

The reason, not surprisingly — Tommy John surgery.

In his first season with the Yankees, who purchased his contract from the Chicago White Sox in March of 2024, Cousins appeared in 37 games, all out of the bullpen, hurling 38 innings with a very solid 2.37 ERA.

But when he reported to spring training in February, Cousins was already shut down from throwing due to a forearm strain.

He was moved to the 60-day IL when the season started, finally throwing two rehab outings earlier this month. But the Yankees quickly shut him down again with what Boone said was a UCL injury. That diagnosis appears to be confirmed with the announcement that Cousins will undergo Tommy John, the widely-used procedure to repair the Ulnar Collateral Ligament.

Five Yankee Organization Pitchers Get TJ This Year

The Yankees announcement also meant that the New York organization will now have seen five pitchers undergo the Tommy John procedure this season, more than any other MLB team except the White Sox, who have also have had five pitchers undergo the procedure, according to data compiled by baseball researcher Jon Roegele.

In addition to Cousins and Cole, Yankees third-ranked pitching prospect Chase Hampton saw his season end before it began when he went under the knife for a UCL repair in February — as did New York’s 2024 third-round draft pick out of LSU, Thatcher Hurd.

Finally, lefty Edgar Barclay of the Yankees Somerset Patriots Double-A affiliate, and a 2019 15th-round draft pick out of Cal State Bakersfield, underwent Tommy John surgery on May 1.

Cousins is set go under the knife on Wednesday. Recovery from Tommy John surgery for pitchers typically takes between 12 and 18 months.

Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin