The Braves announced today that they’ve placed southpaw Jonny Venters on the 10-day injured list. He’s dealing with a strained calf, though his struggles likely played a role in the timing. Venters made a miraculous return to the majors last year after five full seasons away owing to a brutal run of arm injuries. He pitched well enough to be tendered by the Atlanta organization. But Venters struggled this spring and has continued to do so through six regular-season appearances, over which he has surrendered six earned runs in just 2 2/3 innings.
More on the health front …
- A return is finally in sight for Angels DH (and once and future starting pitcher) Shohei Ohtani, who’s nearing readiness after undergoing Tommy John surgery last year. As Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com was among those to tweet, the reigning Rookie of the Year had a promising medical check-up today. So long as nothing intervenes, he’ll begin taking cuts against live pitching early next week. It’s not hard to imagine Ohtani ramping up quickly from that point in time.
- Backup Cubs backstop Victor Caratini underwent surgery to repair his broken left hamate bone, as Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune reports on Twitter. That’s not surprising news, and doesn’t really modify his expected timeline. It’ll be about four to six weeks on the mend for Caratini, who’ll presumably need to ramp back up therafter and take at least a brief rehab stint. Even if all goes as hoped, it’s likely the Cubs ill go without him until June.
- The Blue Jays have some relief on the way with right-hander Ryan Tepera set to be activated in the next day or two, MLB.com’s Gregor Chisolm tweets. The elbow inflammation that put Tepera on the shelf to open the year has obviously not proven to be too big a concern, as the 31-year-old is ready to roll after just two minor-league rehab appearances. Tepera has been a solid pen piece for the Toronto organization, turning in 193 2/3 innings of 3.49 ball over the past four seasons.
Good luck to Ohtani!
Hoping Ohtani comes back strong.
Might be time for Venters to hang it up. He’s looked rough this year, looks like he lost it
2.2 IP this year.
In terms of getting out, yes. But that’s in 6 appearances.
I’m NOT saying Venters doesn’t probably have other issues, but it is entirely possible that the calf injury has affected his mechanics enough to alter both his delivery and his effectiveness.
I will agree that it doesn’t look like he has that edge that he used to have. Seems like he is just going through the motions.
I am hoping it was the calf, but if not then he needs to dig in mentally and get that ‘you are not hitting me’, or whatever he used, old attitude back.
I dunno, he’s come back from 3 Tommy John surgeries no? I wouldn’t think he’d start phoning it in all of sudden, seems pretty dedicated to me
I think Venters should hang on as long as he can; he’s been through so much just to make it back after three Tommy John surgeries. If baseball was your life you’d hang onto it as long as you could, right?
Is this a Once and Future King reference?
Hope Ohtani comes back as good as Darvish is now.
Why would you say that? Seriously? Ohtani might be the most interesting and exciting player in baseball. He might actually be the first ever two-way player to be successful over the long term, once he begins pitching again. With baseball doing such a bad job of marketing its players, he’s a guy they can build around. Ohtani – when pitching and hitting – is one of the most fun players around, and one of the most unique players in baseball history.
It’s just a stupid troll comment. Everyone can move along. Nothing to see here.
Yep, just another pathetic troll, not even a clever troll which is even worse. Pay him no mind, most actual baseball fans are excited to see Ohtani healthy and playing.
For players with over 350 PAs last year Ohtani was a top ten hitter. Mike Trout has no protection and Ohtani is desperately needed.
Currently no team pitches to Mike Trout.
Which makes Trout’s production all the more impressive, even for his typical output
Blue Jays need to sell the team. Terrible franchise.
Do you have $2-billion? If you do make it happen!
Or just be patient and wait for Bronfman to resurrect the Expos and forget about the Rogers Blue Jays.
Still unbelievable that Andujar didn’t win roy
Highly plausible when you consider he wasn’t the top rookie in 2018. That was settled some months ago.