The New York Yankees will answer Masahiro Tanaka's injury by calling up Jonathan Loaisiga from their double-A minor league team, the Trenton Thunder.

As reported by ESPN, Loaisiga will make his MLB debut on June 15, as he will be the Yankees' starting pitcher in a Friday night showdown with the Tampa Bay Rays – the second game of a four-game set.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone originally stated Loaisiga would start on June 14, but later said he misspoke. Domingo German will start the Thursday matchup, while Yankee ace Luis Severino will start June 16.

"We think he has a very bright future," Boone tells ESPN. "He's a guy that pounds the strike zone."

Loaisiga in Yankee minors

Loaisiga will be getting called up to the big leagues straight from double-A, without having a stop with the triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre RailRiders. As NJ.com states in a profile on him, Loaisiga is a right-handed pitcher from Nicaragua, the 15th person from the country to play in MLB. MLB.com ranks him as the 12th overall best prospect in the Yankees' minor-league teams.

Loaisiga went 3-1 with a 4.32 ERA in his six starts with the Thunder. In his last outing with the Thunder, back on June 10, he gave up four runs in just two innings and 49 pitches thrown. His outing that day may have been cut short to prepare for this call-up.

Combined with the four starts he made for the single-A advanced Tampa Tarpons, Loaisiga has gone 6-1 with a 3.00 ERA and 58 strikeouts to his credit.

Justus Sheffield is another top Yankees prospect who is expected to get an eventual call to The Show.

The manager of the RailRiders, Bobby Mitchell, has said Sheffield — who has a 2.96 ERA and 1.13 WHIP through six starts in AAA — is not yet major league ready. Boone, however, states the major league club still has an eye on him as he develops.

Other minor leaguers expected to get potential call-ups include David Hale and Chance Adams, though the latter has regressed thus far in 2018 when compared to last season.

Yankees pitching rotation

Loaisiga's promotion to the bigs comes as a result of an injury Tanaka suffered last weekend in a game against the New York Mets. Tanaka strained both hamstrings while running from third to home to score a game-tying run. Tanaka is expected to be out for weeks, though there is no official timetable with an exact return date.

The pitcher's injury caused a little stir-up among the baseball community regarding pitchers having to bat and run the bases. Since the inception of the designated hitter in the 1970s, only the American League uses the role.

Some baseball writers and analysts feel calling up Loaisiga is not the correct move, and that the Yankees need to make a trade as soon as possible. Rumors have swirled the Yankees could trade for someone like Jacob DeGrom. But Boone stands by the move.
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