Nationals Place Trevor Williams On Injured List With Elbow Sprain

The Nationals announced a series of roster moves this morning, headlined by their placement of right-hander Trevor Williams on the 15-day injured list due to a right elbow sprain. Right-hander Ryan Loutos was recalled to the MLB roster to replace Williams. In an additional move, Washington has activated catcher Keibert Ruiz from the 7-day concussion-related injured list and optioned catcher Drew Millas to Triple-A.

Williams, 33, has been part of the Nationals’ rotation all year but struggled badly with his results. The righty is sporting a 6.21 ERA across 17 starts and 82 2/3 innings this year. That’s the third-worst figure in baseball among pitchers with at least 80 innings of work this year. Brutal as the results have been, it’s perhaps worth noting that Williams has gotten quite unlucky according to the underlying metrics. His .347 BABIP allowed is nearly fifty points higher than his career mark, and a 61.6% strand rate suggests he’s been the victim of poor sequencing as well. Williams’s 4.08 FIP and 4.45 FIP paint him as a roughly average fifth starter based on his performance this year, despite the rough run prevention numbers.

In terms of strikeout and walk rate, Williams hasn’t been all that different than 2024. Last year saw him pitch to a dazzling 2.03 ERA in 66 2/3 innings, but his results then were much better than the metrics suggested they should have been. Taken together, Williams’s strong but abbreviated 2024 and his brutal first half this year paint a picture of a mid-to-back of the rotation arm: 30 starts, a 4.34 ERA, a 3.51 FIP, and a 4.23 SIERA. Perhaps there would’ve been a pitching-needy club or two who would have viewed Williams as a decent innings-eating arm to bet on for a low-cost flier this summer, but today’s injury news will throw a wrench into that possibility.

The exact details surrounding Williams’s injury are not yet known, but any injury involving a pitcher’s elbow is concerning and will typically be treated with an abundance of caution to avoid further damage. Williams figures to be out for several weeks at the very least and could miss much longer than that. A clearer timeline for his return to action figures to be available with time, but Mark Zuckerman of MASN reports that Williams himself suggested that the injury is “comparable” to the flexor strain that cost him more than three months last year. A similar timeline for his recovery this time around would likely put an end to his 2025 campaign.

For the time being, Williams will be replaced on the roster by Loutos. The righty was plucked off waivers from the Dodgers earlier this year but has surrendered eight runs (six earned) in just 4 1/3 innings during his time in a Nationals uniform. He’ll help eat innings for now, but the club will need to replace Williams in the rotation eventually. Cade Cavalli and Shinnosuke Ogasawara are both on the 40-man roster and could be called upon, though Cavalli has struggled at Triple-A this year while Ogasawara is currently pitching at High-A as he works his way back from an injury.

As for Ruiz, the catcher was placed on the 10-day IL after being struck by a foul ball while in the dugout on June 24, but was later moved to the concussion-related IL after experiencing headaches. He figures to resume getting the lion’s share of playing time behind the plate going forward, with Riley Adams serving as his backup. The eight-year, $50MM extension the Nats signed Ruiz to prior to the 2023 season hasn’t worked out so far, and he’s hitting just .247/.278/.320 in 66 games this year. Even so, the former top prospect is still just 26 years old and it’s not outside the realm of possibility that his numbers could improve given how common it is for catchers to be relatively late bloomers at the big league level.