CHICAGO -- Kirby Yates knows the clock is ticking.
The Pirates reliever, now 39, is dealing with his fifth injured list stint over the last two seasons, another reminder that the end of a 12-year career is getting closer. Yates has been effective when healthy, posting a 2.19 ERA in 13 appearances for Pittsburgh, but the recent shoulder issue has brought the bigger question back into focus.
“Not knowing, initially, the uncertainty of it, and wondering if I've thrown my last pitch this year and things like that, dealing with that mentally, and honestly, just being bummed out, just being sad, is what it boils down to,” Yates told MLB.com.
He was even more direct about how the IL grind has worn on him.
“I wouldn't say it's frustration or anything in the past. It's just kind of sadness.
Being bummed that you can't go help, and I've been on the IL a lot here in the last two years, and it's not fun. I really don't enjoy it at all.
I come here to help the team. I come here to play.
Not being able to do that, it's not fun for me.”
Yates believes the shoulder problem isn’t major, and he’s aiming for a short stay that would make him eligible to return on Sept. 15, the opening day of the Pirates’ final homestand. It’s also the first shoulder injury he’s dealt with in a decade, after most of his recent issues have involved his lower body.
The timeline to this IL stint was a little messy. Yates threw 35 pitches in San Diego on Aug. 26, with his last at-bat turning into an 11-pitch battle.
Four days later in St. Louis, he threw eight pitches and said he felt fine, if a bit sluggish.
Then, while warming up in extra innings on Sept. 2, he didn’t feel right. By the next day, his shoulder felt “cranky,” and the Pirates put him on the injured list.
Even now, Yates is still doing what he’s always done: changing speeds, disrupting timing and staying a step ahead of hitters. He broke in with the Rays at 27, later rose to the top of the saves leaderboard with the Padres, and now brings veteran presence to a young bullpen.
“Very crafty,” Pirates pitching coach Bill Murphy said. “It's a unique arm angle, and he still has a good fastball, and the split finger now isn't as hard as it used to be, but it's still enough to pitch at the Major League level.”
Yates hasn’t had to reinvent himself on the mound so much as adapt. He’s lost a little velocity, but his feel for the game and his ability to read hitters have helped him keep finding ways to get outs.
Off the field, he’s adjusted too. To preserve his energy, he no longer works out before games and instead pushes that work to after the game for recovery.
“You do the best you can,” Yates said. “You’ve got to listen to your body. There's new things that randomly pop up every day as you get older.”
For Yates, the final motivation may be the biggest one left: a World Series ring. He was with the Dodgers last year during their championship run, though a hamstring strain in September kept him off the active roster. He still isn’t ready to declare this is the end, but he admits the conversation is getting real.
“Last year it became a real conversation,” Yates said. “I guess you face the facts that nobody plays this game forever.”
His family is part of that equation, too. Yates said his eight-year-old son is starting to get into baseball, and he likes having him around the clubhouse as he comes out of his shell. At the same time, those moments are starting to carry more weight.
“They want Dad home as much as they possibly can. So, I think we're getting to a point where we've had conversations before; it kind of hits you different when they tell you they'd rather have you home,” Yates said.
“So as a father, when you hear that it kind of gets you pretty good in the heart. And there's decisions to make here in the near future.
I'm pretty positive in what I'm gonna do.”
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