Yankees' Catcher Ben Rortvedt Undergoes Knee Surgery

Rortvedt began his Yankees career, earlier this spring, sidelined with a right oblique muscle strain.

Yankees catcher Ben Rortvedt underwent left knee surgery on Tuesday, the team announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Rortvedt's arthroscopic surgery—a partial meniscectomy or "meniscus clean-up"—was performed by Yankees head team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. 

New York confirmed that the procedure went as expected. The recovery time to begin playing games again is expected to be six-to-eight weeks.

Rortvedt was initially acquired by the Yankees in the Gary Sánchez and Gio Urshela trade, the same deal with the Twins that brought Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa to New York.

The 24-year-old backstop came over from Minnesota with an existing oblique injury, sending him to the 10-day injured list before the regular season began. That influenced the Yankees to go out and trade for backstop Jose Trevino—sending right-hander Albert Abreu to the Rangers—to add another defense-first catcher to the organization. 

This knee injury for Rortvedt popped up when he finally began a rehab assignment after he was cleared for in-game action. Yankees manager Aaron Boone revealed last week, during New York's four-game series in Chicago, that the catcher was dealing with a knee issue. Rortvedt appeared in just two games with the Low-A Tampa Tarpons before this new setback.

Even if Rortvedt was healthy, he likely wouldn't factor into New York's big-league equation at the moment. Trevino and Kyle Higashioka have established a reliable defensive platoon behind the plate early on this season. Rortvedt is less experienced as well, appearing in just 39 MLB games last year during his first taste of big-league action.

"We really are excited about him and what he brings to the table too," Boone said last week about Rortvedt. "We just got to get him right right now. Feel like at some point he'll play a factor for us."

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