The Nationals announced Friday morning that their phenom will not pitch again this season after testing Thursday revealed a "significant tear" in the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He will get a second opinion but the Nationals anticipate he'll undergo Tommy John surgery, which generally sidelines pitchers for 12 to 18 months.
Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said the team's medical staff believes Strasburg's injury was "acute" and happened on one pitch.
"As you can imagine he was initially upset by the news, but he has really turned himself from being upset to being focused on his rehabilitation," Rizzo said. "He's determined to get after this, get the surgery done and get to the process of rehabilitation."
Strasburg on Tuesday was placed on the disabled list for the second time this season after leaving his most recent start Saturday in the fifth inning with a strained flexor tendon in his forearm. It was only Strasburg's third start back from his first stint on the DL, and he didn't reach the sixth inning in any of them.
His previous disabled list trip came as a result of shoulder inflammation and kept him sidelined for nearly three weeks in late July and early August. That move was widely seen as precautionary, and Rizzo emphasized Friday that the Nationals are "not concerned" about Strasburg's shoulder going forward.
Still, as carefully as the Nationals monitored and regulated their franchise pitcher's workload on the way to the majors and continued to do so even after he arrived, they couldn't prevent the short-term disaster revealed in that MRI arthrogram.
"This player was developed and cared for in the correct way and things like this happen," Rizzo said. "Pitchers break down, pitchers get hurt, but we're certainly not second-guessing ourselves. We've developed a lot of pitchers this way and we're satisfied with the way he was developed. I know Scott Boras is satisfied with the way he's been treated and developed, and Stephen is, also. We're good with that. Frustrated? Yes. But second-guessing ourselves? No."
In trying as hard as he could to find a bright side in the news, Rizzo noted that Tommy John surgery, while a significant setback, is an easier obstacle to overcome than a shoulder injury. Doctors have perfected the Tommy John process in recent years, making it routine for pitchers to come back and retain the stuff they had before the injury. As an example, Rizzo pointed to Thursday night's starting pitchers at Nationals Park -- the Cardinals' Chris Carpenter and the Nationals' Jordan Zimmermann, both of whom had endured the procedure.
Though Strasburg struggled to stay on the mound in his abbreviated debut campaign, the results when he was able to pitch tended toward the spectacular. In 12 major league starts beginning June 8, Strasburg was 5-3 with a 2.91 ERA. He allowed just 56 hits while walking 17 and striking out a whopping 92 in 68 innings.
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Comments (Page 1 of 3)
All the hype and media garbage and now this!! This is a major indictment of the Washington Nationals management! This is a sad day in the career of Stephen Strasburg. I wish him well and hope that he will come back in a year or two and have a decent career. I hope by the time he is ready again the Washington Nationals management team will have some clue as to how a young talented phenom should be handled. Hopefully Stephen Strasburg will not become another David Clyde.
Sadly, Stephen Strasburg has become the next David Clyde
He won't even be a Mark Prior...I think Prior won 17 games one year. Strasburg will have similar arm trouble as Prior. Since both are from Ca. I wonder if they both trained with former Texas Ranger pitching coach T. House. It is very sad.
How is this a major indictment of Washington management? If anything blame his college coach who didn't correct his flawed delivery. He wasn't allowed to go anywhere near 100 pitches per start. He's not made of fine china. He's a big kid who, if he has the right mechanics, should dominate for 15 years. Look where the pitch count nonsense has gotten NY with Joba.That kid doesn't have a clue on the mound.
This is very sad indeed. I am not too surprised to hear about the elbow ligament and surgery. I already thought he had small strains in both his shoulder and forearm. It does serve as further evidence that these young kid pitchers need time to build up their muscle and tendon tissue through years of working out with weights and pitching minor league ball for a few years instead of being rushed into major league action where they have to put everything they have on every pitch in order to be successful.
I dont know about all of yins but im tired of hearing him be called phenom. Maybe in a couple years if he can still keep it up they can call him that,but i think that they are rushing it.
Another young phenom bites the dust. How do you say Kerry Wood?
I believe Mark Prior comes to mind....
Fire Jim Riggleman. The same idiot "managed" Woods and Prior's arms. Great track record.
He is a baseball player and they play ball.Injuries happen and its not like this guy hasnt pitched a ton of innings. Look at his college years pitching and how many innings he threw then. He was on a pitch count in the bigs and watched like a hawk, what else could they have done. He will be back in 2012 ad hopefully back on track to a promising carrer.
Sounds like Von McDaniel revisited...but then most of you are not old enough to remember him.
Iam.
After reading all the posts I concur with most comments. I also would take heed all the GMs in baseball about signing pitchers to long term contracts. Its a disaster in most cases. But I bet none of them will heed this. Just look at the list, Prior Kerry Wood , and on and on
Strasburg's case in point shows that it is literally impossible to determine exactly what is the precise route to take concerning young pitchers. Its really a matter of individual physiology that at times may be undeterminable. Obviously Strasburg could not be babied any more than he has been. Pitchers of yesteryear used to have astronomical pitch counts (i.e.-Juan Marichal with 232 pitches in one game)and still had long and illustrious careers. There is just no exact science in place. Young and very slight pitcher Tim Lincecum may be struggling a bit with mechanics but he is still physically sound after large pitch count seasons. Second guessing will now be the domain of crystal balling hindsighters.
Chrystal balling hindsighting my azz you fool. Young pitchers need to go several years in the minors for precisely this reason. Juan Marichel wasn't throwing 232 pitches in an inning when he was 19 or his career would have been as long as Strasburg's will be (1/4 season). Bob Gibson pitched several years in minors before he ever saw his first full year. Contrary to what you would like us to think majot league pitchers have never been rushed to the bigs - other than perhaps during WWII when the majors were depleted.
You have seen the last of this great pitcher. He will never pitch another major league game. Good luck Stephan!
Stephen Strasburg is a loud-mouthed schmuck. The punk run his mouth about Bryce Harper, the day before Harper signed with Washington. Remember Strasburg is a rookie who to this point had accomplished nothing said of Harper, "If he doesn't want to be here then we don't want him." because Harper waited to the last day to sign, the very thing Strasburg himself did a year before. I'm glad he's injured, maybe this will humble the punk.
They push these kids too far with pitch counts going up and up...THEY broke him, his own club and MLB. Out for this season and probably the next, they'll send him down and he'll be more than lucky to get back to the Majors. Nice seeing ya.
Pitch counts are a joke. He was never allowed to go over 100 pitches in a game, ever. If you feel management is to blame for this, explain why pitchers in decades up until the 1980's had very long successful carreers pitching without a pitch count. You can blame Tony LaRussa for this pitch count mania.
I don't think they over used him, but they didnt listen when people said his mechanics were trouble. Thats not JIm Rigglemans job, its Steve Mcattys, get rid of him, because 2 years, 2 prospects, 2 tommy johns.
Its a shame.