The reason Stephen Strasburg is back on the injured list — where he’s spent the majority of the last two and a half seasons — is due to a stress reaction of the ribs, the Nationals announced Tuesday afternoon.
Manager Dave Martinez had announced Monday that Strasburg, who was scheduled to make his second start of the season Tuesday, would be going back on the 15-day IL after experiencing “discomfort” during his bullpen session Saturday. Then, before the team’s game against the Braves Tuesday, Martinez told reporters that the stress reaction to Strasburg’s second and third ribs is related to the thoracic outlet syndrome surgery he had last summer.
“We all hurt for him because he worked his butt off to get back and try to help us,” Martinez said. “We were so excited to see him out there. I just hope and pray that he can come back — who knows when, there is no timetable — but that he can come back and pitch again for us.”
According to MASN, Martinez said that Strasburg is going to see specialist Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles. For now, the first step of his recovery is rest.
“He’s a bit down,” Martinez said about Strasburg. “He wants to figure this out. He desperately wants to figure this out.”
Due to multiple injuries, Strasburg has barely pitched since winning the 2019 World Series MVP award and signing a seven-year, $245 million contract. He’s started only eight games — two in 2020, five in 2021 and one this year. His 2020 season ended due to carpal tunnel surgery, while last year’s campaign was cut short after he received thoracic outlet syndrome surgery.
The Nationals were careful with Strasburg this spring, giving him extra time to make his way back to the big leagues. He started his first major league game Thursday, his first in more than a year, with mixed results. The 6-foot-5 right-hander allowed eight hits and seven runs in 4 2/3 innings as his fastball was just 90 mph, but he struck out five batters and showed off the movement on his offspeed pitches.
“He felt really good. He was able to build up to get back here,” Martinez said. “But, after his bullpen, he said he didn’t feel right. As we said all along, we’re going to be extremely careful from spring training on. He was coming along. He was doing well, and he felt good. Now, all of a sudden, here we are again. I feel for him, but I hope he’ll be back sooner than later.”
Martinez also said the knee injury that caused Juan Soto to leave Monday night’s game in the ninth inning isn’t major. Soto, who sustained the injury after slipping in the dugout and banging his knee on the bench, had an X-ray after the game, and it came back negative.
However, Soto isn’t in Tuesday’s lineup — his first missed contest so far this season for the Nationals (23-40).
“He’s OK. He’s banged up a little bit,” Martinez said. “With the knee, I thought this was a good day to give him a day off. We have a lot of games coming up this weekend, and he hasn’t had a day [off] all year.”
Triple-A starting pitcher Jackson Tetreault was called up to replace Strasburg, and the 26-year-old will make his major league debut Tuesday night. Relievers Reed Garrett and Francisco Pérez were also called up from Rochester for the upcoming stretch of seven games in six days. Meanwhile, utilityman Dee Strange-Gordon, who was hitting .305 in 22 games, was designated for assignment.
• Jacob Calvin Meyer can be reached at jmeyer@washingtontimes.com.
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