Nationals’ starter Erick Fedde scratched from start with tight right side; sent for MRI...

Erick Fedde tossed 2 ²⁄₃ scoreless against New York’s Mets last weekend, but right before he was set to face the Washington Nationals’ NL East rivals again last night, the 29-year-old was scratched from his scheduled outing with tightness in his right side and sent for an MRI.

It’s not thought to be serious according to reports from West Palm Beach, FL last night, but it was enough for the Nationals to pull their 2014 1st Round pick, and get a look at what it is causing the discomfort.

“We’ll see what the results are, but he seems like it’s nothing, really,” Martinez told reporters, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman. “But I told him: ‘Hey, I’d rather be safe than you start and go out there and throw 80 pitches and blow out.’ So, he’s just doing the right thing, and getting an MRI.”

Until the club got the results of said MRI, the manager said he was not going to worry about what the next step would be for the pitcher.

“We’ll see what they say, where he’s at, how he’s feeling tomorrow,” Martinez said.

“But if it’s nothing, say a cramp or just tightness that the trainers can work through, he’ll probably throw a live bullpen and then we’ll get him back out there.

“We’ll see what the MRI says.”

The outing against the Mets last week gave Fedde 4 ²⁄₃ scoreless innings on the spring, as he competes for a spot on the Opening Day roster.

While the club does have options, their starting depth, with Joe Ross (a bone spur removed from right elbow, after a UCL tear last year) and Stephen Strasburg (building back up, after surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome last summer) unavailable at the start, their depth could be tested out of the gate.

GM Mike Rizzo talked on Day 1 of Spring Training about the organizational depth assembled for the start of the 2022 campaign by the rebooting club.

“We’re always going to look to upgrade with our depth,” Rizzo said, before the club added a couple veterans in Aaron Sanchez and Aníbal Sánchez to the mix in West Palm Beach, “... but if we had to go with our pitching staff today,” he added at the time, then, “we would be optimistic about it.

“We’re going to see what our depth is all about, and we’re going to see some pitchers in the big leagues this year that will be exciting — young and exciting, and guys that are going to take that next step and help us into this next realm of championship years.”