Drew Storen increases workload on the mound in Florida and will be back in less than one month-MLB
Scheduled to return by the All-Star Break, the Washington Nationals’ relief pitcher Drew Storen still has a month to go for making comeback. After going through surgery in early April, he was hopeful of an immediate return, but that did not turn out to be
the case. Fortunately, he has begun spending good amount of time on the mound now; giving his arms a run three times in a week.
Presently, Storen is in Florida where he thinks he will spend rest of his rehabilitation process. Despite the fact that it has been a long time since Storen is out from the play, he is cautious and does not aim to rush into the season.
In the absent of Storen, the Nationals had to work with depleted bullpen.
Although, in most of the occasions starters carried out bulk of the job and did not let the bullpen get exposed during the few times the club endured defeats due to late innings meltdowns by the relievers.
With Storen out and Brad Lidge being off and on with his command, only reliable reliever, Henry Rodriguez, was handed the monumental task. While Rodriguez handled the job extremely well, naturally it was not to be perfect when help from other relievers is
not forthcoming.
At-times, the bullpen fared poorly, the manager Davey Johnson had to think on some Minor League options.
Similarly, when Chien-Ming Wang returned to the season from injury, Washington removed Ross Detwiler from starting job and demoted him to the bullpen. Idea behind this was to solidify the weakening bullpen and make sure the club does not squander chances
late in the innings.
Whatever number of measures taken by the Nationals, getting Storen in the bullpen remains the foremost choice of the club.
Storen loves to be with the team all the time.
“Now that I’m not early in my throwing program and kind of on my own with just bullpens and stuff, I feel like I’d like to be around the team more,” he said. “But as much as I love the Florida heat, I think I’d rather be up here.”
As the relief pitcher makes strides toward comeback, the manager will be relieved. He will be pleased that at-least their empty bullpen will soon be filled with a quality hurler.
Tags: