The Rockies announced that right-hander Antonio Senzatela has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a left ACL tear. Fellow righty Jhoulys Chacin has been reinstated from the injured list to take his place on the roster.
Senzatela left yesterday’s game after injuring himself while attempting to field a ground ball, falling to the ground in obvious discomfort. It was reported earlier that he would be going for an MRI to get more information, which has apparently revealed the bad news of the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee. Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post spoke to fellow Colorado hurler German Marquez about the situation, with Marquez saying he spoke to Senzatela, who will undergo surgery at some point.
Nick Groke of The Athletic tweets that the club expects Senzatela to miss 6-8 months, meaning this will certainly finish his season and will quite likely have a significant impact on next season as well. Next year’s Spring Training is already about six months away at this point. It will go down as a disappointing season for the righty, the first of his five-year, $50.5MM contract extension he signed with the Rockies. He registered a 5.07 ERA over 19 starts with a below-average 13.1% strikeout rate. He limited walks to a 5.6% rate and got ground balls on 49.4% of balls in play, but many of them found holes. His .383 batting average on balls in play this year was well above his .318 career rate.
In the short-term, the Rockies will eventually need to fill Senzatela’s spot in the rotation next to Marquez, Kyle Freeland, Jose Urena and Ryan Feltner. Chad Kuhl could help eventually, though he landed on the IL two weeks ago with a hip flexor strain. Austin Gomber got bumped to the bullpen after disappointing results but could come back to make some starts.
In the long-term, the Rockies will have to think about next year’s rotation, which was likely going to need some work even before this development. Kuhl and Urena are scheduled to reach free agency at season’s end, leaving the club with Marquez, Freeland, Feltner and perhaps Gomber as holdovers for next year. However, Freeland’s 4.82 ERA this year is the lowest of that bunch.
There’s some kind of curse with pitchers who either signed an extension or a new rich contract
Ironically——-this has also been the case with pitches and hitters alike after new contract extensions.
15 day IL? You’d think he’d go immediately to the 60 day-IL to allow them to add another player to the 40-man. He’ll need to get surgery right away if they hope to get anything out of him next season.
They don’t need another player on the 40 man right now. It’s obvious he is not coming back, but why spend the extra money on an unnecessary player when you already have ready replacements on the 40? It’s not like they are making a playoff run or anything.
Its the Rockies. They may not know there is a 60 Day IL.
It’s possible that they placed him on the 15 day before MRI results so they can call someone up immediately. Just in case it wasn’t that worst news he could come back in short term…. obviously, they now know and if need be they can always transfer him
That sucks. Get well soon!
Just curious, what is the timeframe for an ACL injury for a pitcher? Will he be ready for Spring Training or will he likely miss part of next season also?
Never mind, I should have waited a few minutes for the update.
As far as next year’s rotation goes, the Rockies currently have Helcris Oliveraz and top prospect Ryan Rolison out for the year, but probably will be ready to go in Spring. Oliveraz might get non tendered, but Rolision is a former first rounder and likely will get several chances. There is also Peter Lambert who is going to be ready to go.
Marquez, Freeland, Senza and some combination of Feltner/Rolison/Lambert/Oliveraz/cheap vet starter/a resigned Kuhl would be an OK rotation for 2023.
The Rockies have FAR better options at starter than at relief. Starting pitching has been a relative strength for the team for a long time. Getting a solid bullpen is the problem. Even when they spend, it flops like with Davis, McGee, and Shaw.
Wow, exact same injury and got it in the same way as Daniel Hudson.
We need a designated fielder for the pitchers, it’s dumb that they get hurt while trying to play defense /s
As a long time manager/coach, I’d say it’s usually the most innocent, routine plays that you see athletes having this injury. Most of the time, you expect the athlete to get up and shake it off. After it’s apparent they can’t, the diagnosis always seems to surprise some.
I don’t think enough time is dedicated to athletes strengthening muscles that support the knee. Shame.
I don’t know that this kind of injury is preventable short of not doing the thing that causes it. If you rotate your femur too far with your foot planted, you will sprain your ACL, because that’s how the leg bones are attached through the knee. Been there, done that. As you say, surprisingly easy to do. And, it never heals. A major bummer injury.
I’ve had ACL reconstruction on both knees and they heal just fine. No idea what you’re talking about.
Yeah, very true about femur rotation and a planted foot. The other usual way seems to be coming down awkwardly from a leap
Really believe in plyometrics (jump training) and it seemed to be in vogue a decade ago. Not sure if that’s still true
You had ACL reconstruction surgery because this ligament doesn’t heal on its own. Not enough blood flow in this area is what I was told when I sprained mine. That’s what I am talking about.