Corey Kluber says he's ready to go Monday against Angels
Corey Kluber of the Yankees pitches during the second inning against the Nationals at Yankee Stadium on May 8. Credit: Jim McIsaac
OAKLAND, Calif. — Corey Kluber said he’s ready to go when it comes to facing big-league hitters.
Just how ready will start to be determined Monday night in Anaheim when the 35-year-old righthander, on the injured list since May 26 with a right shoulder strain, has his first outing since May 25 against Toronto. He left that game after three innings with shoulder discomfort, one start after pitching a no-hitter against Texas on May 19.
"The way I’m going to approach it is like I do every start, which is go out there and go 100% from the first pitch and go as long as I can until he [manager Aaron Boone] comes and takes the ball from me," Kluber said Friday afternoon after a bullpen session at Oakland Coliseum. "However long that is, so be it."
Boone said Thursday that Kluber, coming off three rehab starts and therefore not completely built back up, probably will throw in the range of three or four innings, with the possibility that he will use lefthander Andrew Heaney to "piggyback" with Kluber.
Kluber, who was 4-3 with a 3.04 ERA in 10 starts before getting hurt, said those rehab outings told him he is physically ready to return.
"It’s been a pretty, knock on wood, smooth rehab process. I haven’t had any setbacks or any hiccups along the way," Kluber said. "There’s a combination of executing pitches you’d like to, making sure you’re recovering and bouncing back . . . I got to the point [in rehab] where I was executing pitches pretty well to kind of improving on that each time out, and I thought the last one for the most part I was just kind of where I’d like to be."
Boone smiled at the possibilities a healthy and effective Kluber could bring to a rotation that has played a huge role in the recent success the Yankees have had, especially since early July.
"I look at him as Corey Kluber and I know if he gets rolling, we’ve seen it this year already how good he can be," Boone said Friday. "Obviously coming back after a few months, you just want to see him continue to get built up, he’s not all the way built up . . . coming off a shoulder injury, so you want to see how he’s responding, what the stuff looks like. I guess we’re all eager to see that and what it looks like. His pitching will tell you, his pitching will tell him, his pitching will tell us where he’s at."
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
More Yankees headlines
