AUGUST 17: Ross will not need to undergo Tommy John surgery, Martinez told reporters (including Maria Torres of the Athletic). He won’t pitch again this season, but Martinez expressed hope he could be ready for Spring Training in 2022.
AUGUST 15: An MRI has revealed a partial UCL tear in Joe Ross’s right elbow, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. Nationals manager Dave Martinez says Tommy John surgery is possible but hasn’t been decided on definitively. The righty has already undergone the procedure once before, back in 2017. Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post notes that he is going to see the same doctor who performed that surgery to determine how to proceed.
Whether the surgery is the chosen path or not, this is an unfortunate diagnosis for Ross, one of the few notable Nationals players that wasn’t traded at the deadline. One way or another, he is now sure to miss some significant time. He has thrown 108 innings this year with an ERA of 4.17, with strikeout and walk rate both slightly better than league average, at 23.7% and 7.4%, respectively. His 1.4 fWAR is the most of any Nationals pitcher this year who is still on the team. He’s currently on track to be a free agent after the 2022 season. But it’s now possible the team will not tender him a contract, given that there’s a chance he could miss the entire year.
For the team, this further diminishes a rotation that has lost Max Scherzer and Jon Lester to trades, as well as Stephen Strasburg to thoracic outlet surgery. Martinez says that Sean Nolin could potentially get another start in Ross’s absence, per Dougherty.
With Ross going on the IL, Lane Thomas is taking his place on the roster, also per Dougherty. Acquired from the Cardinals in the Jon Lester trade, Thomas is a 25-year-old outfielder. He got into 32 games for St. Louis this year, with a paltry slash line of .104/.259/.125. But his Triple-A numbers are much better on the season, slashing .278/.343/.476.
Ouch. Woulda, coulda traded him. Can’t predict that though
His medicals would have been flagged so not true
Yet another young player with a serious injury, all our young players have serious injuries. WTF, If Manfred doesn’t ask why, who will? This sucks on a huge level.
Rip he was so young
God you’re a tool
God is NOT a tool. Steve Nebraska on the other hand is DEFINITELY a tool.
I’m a tool because I like to get hammered…so what?
MBDaGod,
Please remember to use an Oxford comma, blasphemer.
Go away troll
Bro dodgers barely escaped two games against us and cey hey will tell me they dominated us.
you guys never had a prayer against the Dodgers
They won 2 games in a 7 game season series… relax
Scoreboard.
Worry on making the playoffs rn. Who cares rn, idc if yall swept the Dodgers
The Mets are a joke, you wish you had a chance against the Dodgers buddy.
That sucks. He looks promising as a piece of the Nats rotation going forward.
BMI = 27.1
And so it goes.
Too bad for Joe that The Universe did not get the update that Preller ended up not acquiring him. For Hosmer.
foolish
The April 2022 headline pretty much writes itself: “Nationals Starter Joe Ross to Undergo Tommy John Surgery and Miss 2022 Season”
If he gets it now, he will miss the 2022 season anyway. Otherwise he’ll find out in spring training and could be back by May 2023 if he needs TJ next season.
That’s pretty ominous, considering I plan on retiring in March of 2023.. And it seems so far away.
If he gets it now he’d probably return during 2022 and get enough innings to be ready for a normal 2023. If he waits until April he burns all of 2022 and probably is severely limited in 23.
I mean I’m no doctor but when does playing through a UCL tear EVER work out?