Yankees Top Relief Prospect Ben Heller Pulled Back From Rehab With Elbow Issue
By Daniel Marcillo
As the latest Yankee to face a setback, New York reliever Ben Heller has ended his rehab assignment due to a forearm/elbow issue.
Heller had only thrown 6.2 innings in the minors this season before the recurrence of the arm issues arose. His performance was not evident of any discomfort, however, as he did not allow any runs during his assignment.
Ben Heller has been pulled back from his minor league rehab due to a forearm/elbow issue, Aaron Boone said. He had been pitching with @swbrailriders.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) July 17, 2019
Heller was one of the players the Yankees acquired from the Cleveland Indians, along with Clint Frazier, in the Andrew Miller trade. He has shown promise in the minors, but his career was derailed by Tommy John surgery in 2018.
In his Yankees career, he has only thrown 18 innings and allowed six runs.
Though the team wasn't necessarily counting on Heller to return this year to fill a hole, he could've been an electric luxury later this season. Now, this seems quite dire. Dellin Betances is also recovering from injury, of course, and the team now waits for his arrival a little bit more nervously, seeing another mid-recovery player on the farm go down a second time.
So Ben Heller served as the opener today...
— Greg Bird Resurgence Bandwagon (@GregBirdRBW) July 14, 2019
1.0 IP, 3 TBF, 0 H, 2 SO, 0 BB, 0 R/ER, 9 P
Looked very comfortable
Talked to him yesterday, he said he's excited to get back to the Bronx when he's 100%!
It is a shame to see a talented pitcher like Heller suffer a setback after showing his excitement to return earlier in the week. There is still time in the season for him to return, but the Yankees will not rush him back. They have a solid lead in the AL East and can bide their time a bit.