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Sammy Solis was placed on the 10-Day DL with left elbow inflammation on April 19th, so he would have been eligible to return to Washington’s bullpen this weekend
In his pregame press conference today, Nationals’ skipper Dusty Baker told reporters that the left-handed reliever was instead headed for an MRI.
Asked how Solis was doing at this point, Baker said the Nationals were waiting on the results of the latest images.
“We’ll find out today, we’re awaiting word now on Sammy’s MRI,” Baker explained.
As for what changed that led to the Nationals taking a look?
“No. 1, you want to ease his mind,” Baker said.
“You want to ease our training staff’s mind, and it’s not getting progressively better with rest, so that equals you’ve got to go to the next step.
“Plus, that’s in the area that he had had the Tommy John, so that’s just like if you hurt your knee and then you have the same area, the same kind of pain, then the first thing that comes to your mind is that, ‘I hurt my knee again.’”
Solis told Washington Post writer Chelsea Janes that he felt discomfort when he tried to throw recently:
Solis told me he tried to play catch a few days ago and "wasn't ready." Still had tingling in fingers.
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) April 28, 2017
After Solis went on the DL, Baker told reporters, as quoted by Washington Post writer Jorge Castillo, that he noticed something was off with the lefty in his last appearance.
“His velocity was good,” Baker said. “I just told, I saw a difference in the rotation on his breaking ball. What do you call that? Yeah, I noticed his spin rate.”
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“I just really noticed it last night,” Baker said. “Maybe the time before that. But he warmed up a lot, because all of our games have been close games.”
The initial hope was that the lefty could return to the bullpen as soon as the DL stint was completed.
In six appearances before the injury, Solis gave up nine hits, three walks and three runs in 6 1⁄3 IP out of the Nationals’ pen, posting an 8.31 ERA, a 6.66 FIP and a .250/.368/.500 line against.
Solis threw 41 innings out of the bullpen for the Nats last season, putting up a 2.41 ERA, a 2.78 FIP, 21 walks (4.61 BB/9) and 47 Ks (10.32 K/9), while holding hitters to a .207/.314/.293 line.
UPDATE 5:30 PM EDT: Solis told reporters that the MRI just showed “nerve inflammation” in his elbow, no ligament damage.
Sammy Solis says MRI showed "just nerve inflammation," no ligament damage. No timetable for return yet, but said it's "best-case scenario."
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) April 28, 2017
Solis said MRI just revealed some nerve inflammation, which he called "best case scenario." Ligament is fine. General feeling: relief.
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) April 28, 2017