Yankees right-hander Michael Pineda will remain behind at the club's Minor League complex in Tampa, Fla., when the team goes north, and he's unlikely to pitch at the Major League level in April.George A. King III is reporting that the numbers of tosses was 43, but either way he's began his throwing program, which appears to be a good sign.
Pineda was placed on the 15-day disabled list with right rotator cuff tendinitis, retroactive to March 31, and he made about 25 tosses on flat ground during the Yankees' workout at Tropicana Field on Thursday.
"I think if he wouldn't have been able to play catch, we wouldn't have been too excited," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "But he was able to play catch, and he felt pretty good."
Girardi is not sure when Pineda will be able to get back on a mound and said it is "safe to say" the hurler will be lost at the big league level for all of the season's first month.
King also reported that after the throwing session, Pineda and Larry Rothschild worked on a bullpen mound without a ball, "concentrating on his setup and motion."