The Yankees announced Thursday that right-handed pitcher James Kaprielian will undergo Tommy John surgery on April 18. Dr. Neal ElAttrache will perform the procedure.
Kaprielian, 23, was the Yankees' first-round pick out of UCLA in the 2015 MLB Draft, going 15th overall. He worked 11 innings in 2015 between Low-A and Rookie ball, striking out 14 hitters and pitching to a 1.64 ERA. Obviously, given that and his draft position, expectations were high going into last year.
Instead, elbow issues help Kaprielian to just 18 innings in High-A ball. He did pitch to a 1.50 ERA and struck out 22 batters against only three walks. He was healthy enough to throw 27 innings in the Arizona Fall League, which houses the best prospects in the majors. He had a 4.33 ERA but struck out 26 with a 1.11 WHIP.
Heading into this year, Kaprielian was ranked by MLB.com as the sixth-best prospect in a very good Yankees system. He was the top-ranked pitcher. It was to be a big year, given that he's 23 years old and hadn't yet pitched above Class A in the regular season.
Instead, Kaprielian loses the entire 2017 season and possibly a few months of 2018.
This is a pretty big setback for the Yankees organization as it looks to do an on-the-fly rebuild. The position players are really rounding into shape, but they could use some more arms. Kaprielian's won't be available for a while.
