Wrist surgery will end Jose Trevino's season; Yankees call up Ben Rortvedt

Jose Trevino tried to play through the pain but had to face the stark reality: He wasn’t doing much to help the Yankees, and his season would end here.

Trevino on Friday revealed that he will undergo season-ending surgery “as soon as possible” to fix a TFCC tear in his right wrist — damage to the fibrous tissue and cartilage that he’s been trying to manage since at least spring training.

“I’ve been told it was pain-tolerant, and I couldn’t really take it anymore,” said Trevino, who's on a one-year contract and is arbitration-eligible next year. “I’m not really bringing anything to the table.” 

Trevino, who hasn't played since July 17, expects to be ready by spring training. 

Manager Aaron Boone said the injury has been a season-long ordeal and that lately, “there were more bad days than good days.”

The Yankees called up Ben Rortvedt to split time with Kyle Higashioka at catcher. Also intriguing: They promoted highly touted catching prospect Austin Wells to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. 

Though he said he didn’t want to make excuses for his play, Trevino acknowledged that the injury affected him on both sides of the ball. It’s his offense that took the biggest hit, though.

Never a big bat, he had a .210/.257/.312  slash line   with four homers this year. The 2022 All-Star and Platinum Glove winner had a 58 wRC+, or weighted runs created — 34th out of 40 MLB catchers with at least 150 at-bats this year.

“I was out there playing,” he said, adding that he knew what he was getting himself into. “I was out there trying to do my job. Did it have an impact on me? Yeah, for sure. I felt it. But I was the one that said I was good to go . . . I’m not going to lie to you and tell you it didn’t, but at the same time, I was out there playing. I was out there trying to be productive.”

Added Boone: “Oh, no question [it impacted his hitting]. For the most part, he was still competitive and mostly able to get through it, but it definitely had an impact.”

The decision to undergo surgery ultimately was Trevino's, though Boone did say they considered it earlier.

“It was always on the table,” Boone said. “Certainly, he didn’t want to pull the plug.”

Trevino called the decision difficult but called it unavoidable. He had a cortisone shot in the past to try to deal with the pain and worked with the training staff continuously to keep in playing shape.

“There was no hiding,” he said. “I thought I could get through a whole season with it, but we knew eventually, at some point, it would get to something like this. It’s very frustrating. I want to be out there. I want to play. I love to play. I love to catch. I love to be out there. I love to wear the pinstripes and there’s nothing more that I want to do than go out there and play, but at this point, I’m not helping anybody.”

The injury will give the Yankees a more extended look at the lefthanded-hitting Rortvedt, who batted .286 in five major-league games earlier this year. He had a .286/.395/.505 slash line with six homers and 22 RBIs in 29 games  in Triple-A after missing chunks of last season with oblique and knee injuries. He also had surgery to repair an aneurysm in his left shoulder this past February.

“They’ll be fine,” Trevino said of the catching tandem. “Higgy’s been with this staff a long time and Ben’s going to work right in. He’s going to be fine. I plan on sticking around for whatever they need me for. I just don’t want to take up space, but I’ll be around for the pitchers, the hitters, whatever they need.”

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.