Washington Nationals' pitcher Henry Rodriguez receives season ending elbow operation – MLB News
The Washington Nationals' pitcher Henry Rodriguez has received a season ending elbow surgery on Friday.
Nationals’ team doctors repaired a bone spur while a large bone breakage was also removed from his elbow as it automatically sends him to a long rehabilitation process.
“He’s been pitching with a lot of pain, He’s big and strong and just kind of hidden that,” said Nationals' manager Davey Johnson as he told the media all the details of reliever’s current condition.
Johnson added, “He’s strong and he’s probably been used to pitching with discomfort, I can’t imagine him complaining even if it was [affecting] his performance. He wasn’t going to blame it on anything, didn’t want to take the chance of us thinking there was something wrong with him because he’s been able to pitch with it. But once you become a closer, no matter how hard it hurts I’m sure you’re not going to say anything.”
Rodriguez was already on the Disabled List but his recent surgery now makes more trouble for him and his team’s overall strategy.
Nationals are playing nicely in the second half of the season while with a recent season ending surgery, the team will suffer some crucial moments ahead in the competition.
Before receiving this injury, Henry was playing with 5.83 ERA along with nine saves, 31 strike-outs and 1.40 WHIP.
Not only this season, but his three-year career has also made him much stronger in Major League Baseball. His career 4.26 ERA, eleven saves, 138 strike-outs and 1.45 WHIP also makes him one of the most productive relief pitchers in the league.
Nationals know that their post season chances are looking obvious with .606 winning percentage but overall their position in the absence of Henry will be vulnerable in the later stages of the competition.
The team management also think that they do not have any potential replacement for Henry which is also a bad sign for their possible winning chances in the post season.
At the moment, the National League East is quite open and all the teams have a real possibility to get the second Wild Card entry.
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