Texas Rangers ace Nathan Eovaldi has been shut down for the remainder of the regular season with a right rotator cuff strain. Eovaldi and Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young spoke about the injury, clarifying that it won’t require surgery. Young said that if the Rangers were to make a deep postseason run it’s possible that Eovaldi could factor back in.
Texas is currently 67-67 and 4.5 games out of the final wild card berth.
The 35-year-old was having the best regular season of his career in his third year with the Rangers. In 130 innings pitched, Eovaldi had a record of 11-3 with an ERA of 1.73. He had 129 strikeouts and just 21 walks. He had an outside shot at challenging Detroit’s Tarik Skubal and Boston’s Garrett Crochet for the AL Cy Young Award.
Though the injury won’t require surgery, Eovaldi alluded to the fact that at this juncture of his career, it only makes sense to take the time to rest and recover properly so that his arm is fresh for next season.
The 14-year-veteran eclipsed 300 games pitched in his career earlier this season and is just three starts away from his 300th.
Injuries Mounting in Eovaldi’s Career
This most recent injury has put Nathan Eovaldi on the IL for the second time this season, the first coming back in June when he was placed on the 15-day-IL with inflammation in his right elbow.
Eovaldi has had two Tommy John surgeries in his career, along with a handful of other ailments that have sidelined him. He has been largely reliable to crack 100 innings in most seasons of his career, but now as he’s ticking closer to 40-years-old, every injury he sustains becomes more crucial that he takes the proper amount of time to heal.
Eovaldi’s main weapon is his fastball and his ability to pitch off of it. Velocity is often the first thing to go for aging pitchers, so that will be a focus of his as he recovers from this rotator cuff injury.
Rangers Battling to Stay in Wild Card Race
This most recent blow to the Texas starting rotation has the potential to be the nail in the coffin for their playoff hopes as Eovaldi delivered the most consistent outings for his team before the injury.
At 67-67, the Rangers are 4.5 games out of the final wild card spot and 6 behind Houston for the AL West lead. The Rangers have some series’ left against some of the bottom feeders in the MLB, but also have six games against Houston, which they will undoubtedly have win at a bare minimum four of if they want to have any chance to catch the Astros atop the division.
Texas will now lean on Jacob DeGrom, Merrill Kelly and Jack Leiter to carry the load in the starting rotation. The three have all had moderately successful seasons, but none have delivered as much as the Rangers were expecting them to.
Now in crunch time, September could be the month that Texas finds a way to put all the pieces together and go on a run.
Rangers Cy Young Candidate Nathan Eovaldi Opens Up About Devastating News