Reds starter Nick Lodolo has been out of action since May 6 due to a left leg issue. Initially announced as calf tendinitis, the injury was later revised to a more concerning tibia stress reaction.
Lodolo has spent the better part of a month in a walking boot. Follow-up imaging this afternoon confirmed he’d need at least another two weeks in the boot, skipper David Bell told the media (relayed by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer). He’ll go for additional testing at that point.
According to Bell, Lodolo would likely need four to six weeks from the time he’s out of the walking boot before he’d be ready for game action. The long layoff will require him to build arm strength back via a throwing program. At the earliest, that timeline would suggest an early-August return to Great American Ball Park. Further delays or the longer end of that expected throwing program could keep him out well into the month.
Lodolo is already on the 60-day injured list. He’s eligible to return around the All-Star Break but clearly won’t be ready by that point. It has been a frustrating season for the second-year hurler. He’s started seven games and pitched to a 6.29 ERA over 34 1/3 innings. The former seventh overall pick had also spent a couple months on the IL last season — in that case due to a lower back strain — but impressed with a 3.66 ERA over 103 1/3 frames as a rookie.
The Reds weren’t generally expected to compete this season. That’d have been especially tough to envision if one could’ve predicted Lodolo’s injury woes, but Cincinnati’s influx of young infield talent has helped them outperform most preseason forecasts. The Reds sit at 34-35, just two games behind the Pirates in a lackluster NL Central. If Cincinnati can hang in the playoff picture deep into the summer, Lodolo’s return could take on extra importance for a club currently giving regular rotation run to each of Luke Weaver, Ben Lively and Brandon Williamson.
The way the Reds front office handles injury reports is just terrible. This will change..
Who is writing this? Please consult an AP style guide or provide the reader a guide to this poorly written slop.Thank you.
Lol cry about it. This isn’t university. It’s a free baseball news website.
That’d … really?
A perfectly acceptable contraction for /that would/… as in “I wish Adam could write a legible post but that’d be asking for too much.”
This is unfortunate, but overall the future is looking bright in Cincinnati.
A big ouch to a surging club, but with the nature of the injury, not really surprising.
At least it’s not an arm, elbow or shoulder injury.
So far he does seem to stay injured a lot. Kind of like Senzel, but it is much too soon to hang that label on him. The Reds are going to need him going forward and also need him to stay healthy.. With Ashcraft also injured and struggling prior to the injury, the starting rotation seems to be the Reds biggest worry going forward. There is an abundance of talent for the other 8 positions((or soon will be). The BP seems decent for now…
Hopefully Nick is back in August and we stay in contention. Think of the boost to the club to have a fresh arm inserted into the rotation at push time.