Washington Nationals right-hander Josiah Gray became the latest All-Star pitcher placed on the injured list on Tuesday, hitting the shelf just hours before he was scheduled to take the mound versus the San Francisco Giants. Gray, who is dealing with a flexor strain, joins an ever-growing crowd that includes Spencer Strider, Shane Bieber, and many of the game's other top pitchers over the last three-plus years.
Gray told reporters that his strain is in the muscle, as his MRI showed no damage to the ligament (via MASN's Mark Zuckerman).
In a corresponding move, the Nationals recalled righty Joan Adon from Triple-A Rochester to start the evening game. Adon gave up one run in four innings in a 5-3 win over the Giants and was promptly optioned back to the minors.
Gray, 26, had struggled in his first two turns through the rotation. He had surrendered 13 runs on 15 hits in 8 1/3 innings. Additionally, he had struck out nine batters while issuing five walks. Gray made his first career All-Star Game last season, compiling full-season marks that included a 110 ERA+ and an estimated 3.1 Wins Above Replacement, according to the calculations housed at Baseball Reference.
It's unclear how long Gray will be out. Perhaps the news that it is in the muscle and not the ligament is good news and spares Gray from heading down a bad path.
As CBS Sports noted earlier on Tuesday, when the Boston Red Sox placed Nick Pivetta on the injured list with his own flexor strain, these injuries can sometimes lead to substantive absences. Here's our research:
According to Baseball Prospectus' recovery database, pitchers who experience a flexor strain miss 66 days on average. Every player's injury and recovery process is unique to themselves, so it's not quite an apple-to-apple comparison. Likewise, while flexor strains can serve as a precursor to Tommy John surgery, that may end up not being the case here.
The Nationals enter Wednesday with a 5-6 record on the young season.
