The Yankees only have to look as far as Brian McCann’s roster replacement for a reason to be uncertain about when the catcher might return from the concussion he suffered Friday.
McCann, on the 7-day concussion disabled list, was diagnosed with a “slight” concussion, according to manager Joe Girardi, a term Austin Romine is familiar with.
“Mine wasn’t supposed to be serious at all, but I didn’t come back,” Romine, who was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to replace McCann, said before Sunday’s 4-1 loss to Cleveland in The Bronx. “These things are so unpredictable. It’s scary.”
Like McCann, Romine took a foul ball off his mask.
“It was just one time,” Romine said of the foul ball off Adam Jones’ bat on Sept. 10 in Baltimore.
Two differences between the incidents are that Romine was hit near his forehead and was dizzy and dry-heaving almost as soon as he left the game, while McCann was hit near his jaw and was not nauseous afterward.
Still, Romine never expected to miss the remainder of the 2013 season.
“It just lingered,” Romine said. “I was working on some things and I just didn’t feel right.”
Eventually, the Yankees made the decision to sit Romine.
“They didn’t want me to play, so we shut it down,” he said.
Girardi acknowledged again there was “concern” about when McCann would be back, but declined to put a timetable on it.
“I don’t think you can compare skull structures and foul tips,” Girardi said. “I think it’s different than ligaments and things like that, where you have some idea of how long something is gonna take.”
The Yankees haven’t officially announced a starting pitcher for Wednesday’s game in Baltimore, but they have listed Esmil Rogers as the probable starter.
Michael Pineda, who threw 72 pitches in a rehab game for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday, has proclaimed himself ready to go, but Girardi has said he wants to let more games play out before he makes a final decision.
Girardi said Carlos Beltran has been continuing his throwing program and his right elbow is improving, but insisted the flexibility to play Martin Prado in right field makes Beltran’s return to the outfield a less pressing need.
RHP Bryan Mitchell made his major league debut on Sunday, entering at the start of the eighth and tossing two shutout innings in the loss. The 23-year-old was called up on Friday.
“I’ve been called up a few times now, so it’s a big relief to get in there for the first time,” Mitchell said. “It was my first experience and I was pretty nervous trying to make pitches. In the second inning [I pitched] I could feel myself breathe, so that was good.”