Strasburg back to IL, felt ‘discomfort’ after bullpen session originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
WASHINGTON — Stephen Strasburg won’t make his regularly scheduled start at Nationals Park on Tuesday, manager Davey Martinez announced. Washington will instead place him back on the injured list as it attempts to determine why the right-hander “didn’t feel right” following his bullpen session Saturday.
“He threw his bullpen, the next day he didn’t feel so good,” Martinez said in his pregame press conference Monday. “We were hoping it was something that would go away. It didn’t. Today we sent him to get an MRI. We don’t have any results back yet. He’s there as we speak. So we’ll know more about the injury and all that stuff after the game.”
Strasburg, 33, spent the first two months of the season recovering from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery before making his 2022 debut in Miami on Thursday. He went 4 2/3 innings against the Marlins, allowing seven runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and two walks.
Though he felt good the day after his start, Strasburg went to Martinez on Sunday to report “some discomfort.” The skipper declined to elaborate on where Strasburg wasn’t feeling right but didn’t rule out lingering effects from the surgery being a factor.
“This surgery, this thoracic outlet thing, you just don’t know,” Martinez said. “We don’t know if this is the same issue or not yet but we’ll know more as soon as we get the MRI and the doctors read the image. But it stinks because he was all excited to be back but hopefully it’s just a minor setback.”
As for who will start in Strasburg’s place Tuesday against the Atlanta Braves, Martinez said the team would wait until after Monday’s game to make an official move. Recently demoted starter Joan Adon pitched for Triple-A Rochester on Sunday, making him an unlikely candidate. Neither Josh Rogers (shoulder) nor Aníbal Sánchez (neck) are far enough along in their rehabs.
While top pitching prospect Cade Cavalli has enjoyed some recent success with a 2.25 ERA over his last four starts with Rochester, Martinez doesn’t think he’s quite ready for the call up to the majors.
“He’s getting there. I still think he’s fairly young. I still think there’s stuff that he needs to work on but he’s getting better, which is great. It’s great for our organization. Eventually he’s gonna pitch here. There’s no timetable. We need him to do some different things, but he is getting better. So whether I can say it’s this year or next year, but Cavalli will pitch for the Nationals at some point.”
It’s no guarantee he gets the call, but Triple-A starter Jackson Tetreault would be on normal rest should the Nationals decide to go off the 40-man for a starter. He’s made 12 starts in Triple-A this season, posting a 4.19 ERA with 52 strikeouts and 24 walks in 58 innings. The 26-year-old was a seventh-round pick of the Nationals in 2017. He’s never appeared in the majors.