After racing to a 16-6 start, the Yankees have dropped 11 of their last 17 games and are tied for the seventh-best record in the American League. They're still a near-lock to make the playoffs, but in a World Series-or-bust season for New York, merely advancing to October won't be enough.

Injuries have ravaged the Yankees' lineup and ineffectiveness has plagued the back of their rotation. In an attempt to solve the latter problem, New York has promoted two pitchers from MLB Pipeline's Top 100 Prospects list in the last week. Deivi Garcia (No. 97 on the Top 100) has looked sharp in his first two starts, while Clarke Schmidt (No. 93) took the loss in his big league debut Friday in relief of Garcia.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone admitted that it wasn't optimal breaking Schmidt in by asking him to come in as a reliever with two runners on base. Though Schmidt surrendered hits to the first three batters he faced, he wasn't hit particularly hard and both Boone and catcher Erik Kratz told reporters they were impressed by the quality of the 24-year-old right-hander's stuff. It's unclear when he'll get his first big league start, but he has the talent to make an impact down the stretch and into the postseason.

Schmidt was one of the best pitchers in college baseball as a sophomore and junior at South Carolina until he injured his elbow and had Tommy John surgery a month before the 2017 Draft. The Yankees strategically drafted him 16th overall -- around where he would have fit if healthy -- signed him for a below-slot $2,184,300 and used the savings to pay second-rounder Matt Sauer. While Sauer wound up having his elbow reconstructed in 2019, Schmidt made a full recovery and looked as good as ever while helping Trenton win the Double-A Eastern League championship.

Schmidt allowed a total one earned run in his final four outings while striking out 27 in 24 1/3 innings. Because of his surgery, he didn't make his pro debut until a month after signing and has been brought along carefully, working just 114 innings over two Minor League seasons before getting summoned to New York. He has a career 6-8 record with a 3.39 ERA, .226 opponent average and 132/34 K/BB ratio.

Here's our breakdown of Schmidt's tools on the 20-80 scouting scale, where 50 represents big league average ability:

Fastball (60): Schmidt employs both two-seam and four-seam fastballs, typically ranging from 92-97 mph with heavy sink on the former and cut and carry on the latter. Both are effective and Kratz praised his ability to shape his pitches after catching him against the Orioles. He generated a lot of weak contact with his fastball in the Minors, producing a 1.4 groundout/airout ratio and permitting only five homers in 114 innings.

Curveball (55): Schmidt flashed both a plus curveball and slider in college but lacked consistency with them, so the Yankees had him focus on one breaking ball. He scrapped his slider in favor of his curve, which sits in the low 80s and features good depth. If he doesn't stay on top of his curveball, it features more lateral break and looks more like a slider.

Changeup (55): Like the rest of his arsenal, Schmidt's changeup can be a plus pitch at its best. Though it parks in the mid-80s and doesn't always have optimal velocity separation from his fastball, it's effective because it tumbles and dives at the plate. His changeup helped him achieve equal success against lefties and righties in the Minors.

Control (50): Schmidt has a history of throwing strikes, averaging 2.5 walks per nine innings in college and 2.7 in the Minors. He has some funkiness to his delivery that adds deception without costing him control, though his command isn’t as sharp. His less-than-smooth mechanics and his relatively small 6-foot-1 frame led to some durability concerns even before he got hurt in college, and he missed a month in 2019 with minor elbow inflammation.