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For the second straight season, Trevor Williams is going on the injured list with an arm issue. And the veteran right-hander didn’t sound overly optimistic about his latest ailment.
The Nationals placed Williams on the 15-day IL with a right elbow sprain, the most significant of a series of transactions the club made this morning prior to its Fourth of July matinee against the Red Sox. The team also activated catcher Keibert Ruiz off the 7-day concussion IL, optioned Drew Millas to Triple-A Rochester and recalled reliever Ryan Loutos only one day after sending him down.
The Williams injury revelation comes two days after the 33-year-old labored through the worst of his 17 starts this season, one in which he threw 54 pitches in a six-run top of the first against the Tigers and then returned to toss two more innings before manager Davey Martinez pulled him in the first game of a day-night doubleheader.
Williams said his arm didn’t respond as it normally does after a start, so he notified club officials about it Thursday and underwent an MRI. He suggested the team is still waiting to fully decipher the results of that test before determining a course of action, but the right-hander concedes he’s going to miss some time.
“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly,” he said. “It could be a mechanical deficiency. It could be a grip thing. Who knows? The unfortunate part is that the MRI showed I’m not going to be able to start this weekend. We’ll see what happens and what the next steps will be.”
Williams spent 3 1/2 months on the IL last season with a strained right forearm flexor. Though the official injury designation is different, he did say this current ailment is “comparable” to that one.
“It’s the same area,” he said. “Thankfully, last year was my first arm injury ever. … We’re just going to take a little bit and see what we’re going to do. Is it rest and rehab? Is it throw tomorrow? We’re just going to wait and see what happens.”
Though he made only 13 starts sandwiched around that lengthy IL stint, Williams did deliver a 2.03 ERA and 1.035 WHIP. That prompted the Nationals to re-sign him this winter to a two-year, $14 million deal, one that has not come close to working out as hoped.
In 17 starts to begin this season, Williams is 3-10 with a 6.21 ERA that would rank last in the majors if he had enough innings to qualify. His WHIP has shot up to 1.536.
“It was frustrating last year, and it’s frustrating again this year,” he said of the injury. “Unfortunately, it’s just the way that it is. I can only control how I’m going to respond to this, and hopefully get back out there as fast as possible.”
Williams’ injury opens the door for the Nationals to potentially call up top pitching prospect Cade Cavalli for what would be his first major league start in three years, and only his second major league start ever. Cavalli, who gave up seven runs in his last start for Rochester but had a 2.43 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 31 1/3 innings over his previous seven outings, is not currently listed among the Red Wings’ probable pitchers this weekend. The Nats have listed Sunday’s starter against the Red Sox as “TBA.”
For now, the club used the open pitching slot to recall Loutos, who had been optioned to Triple-A prior to Thursday’s game to make room for left-hander Andrew Chafin’s activation from the 15-day IL.
