Rockies hurler Germán Márquez left tonight’s win over the Cardinals after simply 5 innings and 62 pitches. He’d come out to heat up within the sixth however known as out the coach and gestured towards the surface of his forearm. Postgame, supervisor Bud Black known as the difficulty forearm tightness (hyperlink by way of Patrick Saunders of the Denver Submit).
It’s far too early for the Rox to have a definitive prognosis. Black expressed hope the difficulty isn’t severe and didn’t rule out the potential of Márquez making his subsequent begin. Thomas Harding of MLB.com tweets that Márquez additionally downplayed his concern, although he famous he’s additionally skilled some forearm tightness between his begins. Whether or not he’ll be capable of keep away from the injured record will likely be clearer after he undergoes additional analysis tomorrow.
Forearm tightness is an ominous prognosis for any pitcher. It may be a precursor to ligament or muscular injury within the forearm/elbow space. That doesn’t inherently imply Márquez’s subject is severe, in fact, but it surely’ll be trigger for concern for Colorado till there’s extra readability on what’s inflicting the discomfort.
Márquez is the highest pitcher on the Rockies’ employees. He’s allowed eight runs in 16 1/3 innings this season however struck out 13 whereas issuing solely two walks. The Venezuelan-born hurler had a down 2022 season, permitting practically 5 earned runs per 9 over 31 begins. Between 2017-21, he labored to a 4.25 ERA with an above-average 24% strikeout price.
Rotation depth is a serious concern for Colorado. Antonio Senzatela remains to be recovering from final summer time’s torn ACL. Past Márquez and Kyle Freeland, the Rox presently have José Ureña, Ryan Feltner and Austin Gomber rounding out the beginning 5. Ureña and Feltner, particularly, have been hit exhausting of their first two begins. Lengthy reliever Connor Seabold and Peter Lambert look like the highest choices to step into the rotation ought to Márquez miss any time.
