Yankees Starter Frankie Montas To Miss First Half After Shoulder Surgery

New York Yankees starting pitcher Frankie Montas will miss at least the first half of the 2023 season as he recovers from surgery to his right shoulder. The operation Wednesday was successful, and he will begin throwing again in May.

“Everything went according to plan,” manager Aaron Boone told NBC Sports. “We’re day one out of surgery, so we have a long way to go from there. We’re hopeful at some point he can get back but I don’t want to best case, worst case.”

Last season, Montas had a number of minor setbacks as a member of both the Athletics and Yankees, as various arm issues forced him to miss multiple starts. In January, he first reported inflammation in his shoulder and subsequent tests confirmed that he would require arthroscopic surgery.

Though Montas’ timetable for recovery is still unclear, if the pitcher begins throwing in 12 weeks as planned, he could be available to appear on the mound over the summer. In eight games for New York last season, Montas compiled a 1-3 record and 6.35 ERA. Before he was traded, he earned a 4-9 record with a 3.18 ERA in 19 starts for Oakland. He is signed to the Yankees through the 2023 season and will enter free agency in 2024.

Montas was signed by the Red Sox in 2009 and traded to the White Sox in 2013, but the pitcher did not become a consistent major league starter until 2018, when he played his first full season for the Athletics. He quickly became a reliable arm for Oakland, even as the team struggled.

In addition to Montas’ surgery, the Yankees are also overseeing the recoveries of pitcher Nestor Cortes and minor-league catcher Ben Rortvedt. Rortvedt underwent surgery on Wednesday as well to treat an aneurysm in a shoulder artery, which had been causing circulation issues in his hand. Cortes is further along in his recovery from a right hamstring injury and has thrown off the mound twice in recent weeks.