Yankees' Tanaka Making Progress After Elbow Surgery
TAMPA, Fla, (CBSNewYork/AP) — Masahiro Tanaka is making progress after arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone spur from his pitching elbow last October.
The Yankees right-hander threw 31 pitches Monday during his third mound session.
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The Yankees hope he will be ready for his first regular-season start. Pitching coach Larry Rothschild said Tanaka is "where we want him to be" and "so far there have been no hitches or anything."
Tanaka was 12-7 with a 3.51 ERA in 24 starts last year and lost the wild-card game. He was on the disabled list last season with right wrist tendinitis and a forearm strain. He missed a September start because of a strained right hamstring.
On Feb. 12, Tanaka said he feels perfectly healthy but isn't sure when he'll make his first regular-season start.
"Can't really say," Tanaka said through a translator. "We'll take it day by day. I feel that I can't really talk about that at this point. I just want to see myself go into the bullpen, get the innings in and see how I feel."
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