Major League Baseball

Yankees' Tanaka making progress after elbow surgery

Published Feb. 22, 2016 3:51 p.m. ET

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TAMPA, Fla, (AP) Masahiro Tanaka is making progress after arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone spur from his pitching elbow last October.

The New York Yankees right-hander threw 31 pitches Monday during his third mound session.

The Yankees hope he will be ready for his first regular-season start. Pitching coach Larry Rothschild says Tanaka is ''where we want him to be'' and ''so far there have been no hitches or anything.''

Tanaka was 12-7 with a 3.51 ERA in 24 starts last year and lost the wild-card game. He was on the disabled list last season with right wrist tendinitis and a forearm strain. He missed a September start because of a strained right hamstring.