TORONTO -- Yankees reliever Nick Rumbelow has a torn elbow ligament and needs Tommy John surgery that will sideline him until next year.
New York said the 24-year-old right-hander was injured Sunday while pitching for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at Rochester. Yankees team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad is scheduled to operate Friday at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Manager Joe Giardi called Rumbelow's injury "frustrating."
"It's a kid that came up and did a pretty good job for us, and we felt that he was going to help us at some point this year," Girardi said before the Yankees played the Toronto Blue Jays. "We won't have him this year, and that's one less guy that we can turn to if we have an issue."
In his season debut, Rumbelow relieved Anthony Swarzak to start the fourth, allowed two singles before getting three straight outs to strand the runners. He was hurt while warming up before the fifth.
Rumbelow made his big league debut June 23 and was 1-1 with a 4.02 ERA in 15 2/3 innings over 17 relief appearances. He had a 5.19 ERA over 8 2/3 innings during eight spring training appearances this year.
Girardi said he didn't know whether Rumbelow was hurting during spring training.
"That's something that's always going to come to our minds," Girardi said. "He had some command issues at times. He never mentioned anything and never had a treatment."
New York's bullpen already was missing Bryan Mitchell, who broke a bone in his left big toe while covering first base during a March 30 exhibition game and is expected to be sidelined at least four months.
