After missing almost the entire 2022 season with an elbow injury, left-handed reliever Sean Doolittle is back with the Nationals.
Washington on Sunday announced it is bringing back the former Washington closer and fan favorite on a minor-league deal. Doolittle will have to earn his way onto the big-league roster during spring training.
“In true extremely introvert fashion I’m so excited to be staying home,” Doolittle tweeted Sunday. “I’ve been making really good progress coming back from elbow surgery. I feel like I have a lot to prove — mostly to myself — and I’m so stoked to have a chance to wear the Curly W again.”
Doolittle, 36, was one of the Nationals’ top relievers in early April before he sprained his ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow. He allowed only one batter to reach base and showed improved velocity in his first 5 1/3 innings before suffering the injury.
He rehabbed for a few months after the injury and received platelet-rich plasma injections. But after his elbow didn’t respond the way he wanted, he opted to get an internal brace procedure on his left elbow. That surgery is an alternative to Tommy John Surgery with a shorter recovery time. When Doolittle had the surgery in July, the timeline was set that he could return to the mound by spring training.
Across five seasons with Washington, Doolittle has a 2.92 earned-run average in 148 innings. He saved 75 games across three seasons with the team from 2017 to 2019, including 29 saves in the Nationals’ World Series-winning 2019 campaign.
• Jacob Calvin Meyer can be reached at jmeyer@washingtontimes.com.
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