Nationals Share Ominous Injury Update on Connelly Early

The gem of the Washington Nationals trade deadline haul was Connelly Early.

The 24-year-old left-hander was a former top prospect of the Boston Red Sox, and so far during the early stages of his career, he's lived up to that billing. Across 21 major league starts, he has a 3.24 ERA and an ERA+ that's 25 points above the league average of 100. He's also recorded 122 strikeouts with 38 walks in 111 innings pitched, and he projects as a frontline starter for this Nationals rotation.

Unfortunately, it seems like it could be a little while until he makes his team debut. That's because, according to Mark Zuckerman of Nats Journal, Early experienced forearm tightness while trying to work his way back from left elbow inflammation that landed him on the injured list on July 1.

Nationals Will Be Careful With Connelly Early's Rehab

New Washington Nationals pitcher Connelly Early | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Early experienced that tightness in between innings of the live bullpen session he was throwing down in West Palm Beach on Aug. 4. The lefty has yet to go on a rehab assignment, and this was supposed to be a key step before that process got underway. But now, Washington is set to be "ultra cautious" with their new prized pitcher.

The good news is that manager Blake Butera doesn't seem too worried about this injury update. "From what I've been told, it's not super concerning," the skipper stated, per Zuckerman.

However, there should always be some level of apprehension about anything involving a pitcher's forearm, especially after that same pitcher has already been dealing with inflammation in his elbow. Hopefully, the optimism being relayed to Butera is apt. The worst-case scenario would be if Early eventually needed to undergo a procedure to repair a damaged UCL or flexor tendon, which everyone hopes doesn't come to fruition.

In the meantime, while the Nationals figure out their next course of action, they are going to pause the throwing progression of Early. That pushes his expected return date back from sometime in the middle of the month to sometime later in August. While that is disappointing, especially because they traded star left-hander Foster Griffin ahead of the deadline, the long-term health of Early is the most important thing when it comes to what Washington does in regards to his rehab process.

Right now, the Nationals believe this is a minor blip and he'll be in their rotation before the season ends. Hopefully, that turns out to be the case.

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