Elbow surgery puts an end to Henry Rodriguez’s expedition in the season - MLB News
On Friday the Washington Nationals’ relief pitcher Henry Rodriguez goes through elbow surgery. The reports say he has been asked to stay away from baseball activities for 10 to 12 weeks which means that he will most probably return to the side in Spring
Training.
The Nationals are playing without him since the start of this month and therefore have used other options for carrying out the closing job.
While it is the starters that have played a major role in the Nationals’ victories so far, they will need quality relievers late in the season. The fact the Stephen Strasburg is about to be terminated signals their pitching department is going to experience
adjustments in the next couple of weeks.
Although they have the likes of Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard for throwing the penultimate innings, the reduction in options is not a good sign for the team.
Both Tyler Clippard and Storen boast proven credentials for escaping the most difficult of situations successfully but there is always the danger of injuries to them and therefore missing someone like Rodriguez can be costly.
Rodriguez did the closing job for the Nationals during the beginning of the season but he was not successful. However the fact he is believed to posses one of the most dynamic pitches in his repertoire gives a reason to believe he can be useful for the club
any time.
Meanwhile, Washington’s General Manager Mike Rizzo believes if his outage from the season means that he can take some time now to find his lost form as a reliever then it is a healthy sign for the team.
“Henry has got great upside,” said Mike Rizzo. “He’s a power pitcher. And if this injury prevented him from performing at his accustomed level, then that’s a good thing. Because when he gets healthy, he should revert back to the guy we saw in spring training
and the guy we saw at the beginning of the season.”
Rodriguez will be going through the rehabilitation process now before he comes back in Spring Training. He will be looking to make up for his poor shows in the current season by putting up impressive performances in the upcoming year.
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