CLEVELAND — A Friday washout has opened the door for Cody Poteet to make his Yankees debut on Saturday.
The Yankees will call up Poteet from Triple-A to start the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Guardians at Progressive Field after Friday’s scheduled series opener was postponed by inclement weather.
Clarke Schmidt, who was set to pitch on Friday, will now start Game 1 on Saturday, which begins at 12:10 p.m. with the nightcap set for 6:10 p.m.
Luis Gil originally had been scheduled to start on Saturday but the Yankees will push him back, since they were going to need a spot starter at some point with six games in five days.
The 29-year-old Poteet last pitched in the majors in 2022 for the Marlins before undergoing Tommy John surgery that August.
He was sidelined until last September, when he got back in time to pitch one game with the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate.
The Yankees signed Poteet to a major league contract in January to bolster their starting pitching depth after trading away much of it in the Juan Soto deal.
The right-hander had been working out at Eric Cressey’s facility in Florida, which gave the Yankees some more familiarity with him.
After flashing his potential in big league spring training — though he ended with a clunker against the Tigers — Poteet was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he had posted a 2.16 ERA in two starts, striking out 12 across 8 ¹/₃ innings.
He threw 70 pitches in his last start on Sunday meaning he should be able to give the Yankees somewhere around 80 pitches on Saturday.
Poteet, who had been scheduled to start on Sunday for the RailRiders, will likely serve as the Yankees’ 27th man for the doubleheader so they do not have to make a move to add him to the roster.
Clayton Beeter, scheduled to start on Saturday for SWB, was also another candidate to be recalled for the spot start.