Tommy Kahnle Injury Update: Veteran Yankees reliever unlikely to be ready for opening day despite positive updates

Tommy Kahnle is set to miss Opening Day for the second straight year. On Wednesday, the New York Yankees reliever threw his sixth bullpen session and reportedly felt good and pain-free. This year, his throwing program was delayed owing to shoulder inflammation that cut short his season last year.

Kahnle hasn't ruled out being available for the opening day but said, "It's trending that way." He will probably start going in the first week of the season, although it may be in spring or minor league games.

The same time around last year, Kahnle missed the 2023 Opening Day due to biceps tendinitis that he suffered after he threw five live BP sessions. However, Boone mentioned this year it's different since Kahnle is not hurt but is "just behind."

"I think he'll be ready, but it's a matter of do we want him to have more games under his belt? That's what we're kind of deciding," manager Aaron Boone said.

The reason for his delayed start to his throwing program was owing to his inflammation, which wasn't subdued by then.

“It just took longer than I expected for the pain to go away,” Kahnle said. “It feels good [now]. No pain, no nothing. Just been trucking.”

Tommy Kahnle's next throwing sessions to build him for the regular season

Tommy Kahnle will now go for a few more bullpen sessions before pitching live batting sessions to get closer to returning to the major league mound. The Yankees coaching and training staff are taking a cautious approach with Kahnle to maintain his health so that there is no discomfort in throwing his arm down the line like last season.

"Obviously we knew there was inflammation in there,” Kahnle said. “It just didn’t clear up [as quickly] as we thought. But it wasn’t anything serious, no structural or anything.”

Last season, the 34-year-old right-hander appeared in 42 games, his most since 2019, after participating in only 14 games from 2020-2022.

Despite beginning his season on June 2 due to bicep tendinitis, Kahnle was one of the Yankees' most productive relievers last season, with a 2.66 ERA and no runs allowed in his first 16 outings. He would pitch 40.2 innings, striking out 48 batters.