Nationals SP Ross Detwiler will likely miss rest of 2013 season

According to a report from Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com, Washington Nationals starting pitcher Ross Detwiler is likely to miss the rest of the 2013 season as a result of a long-term back ailment.

It has been a disastrous campaign for the Nationals, and this news is just another instance of their young talent submarining this season. Detwiler had a 4.04 ERA in 13 starts this season, but at 27 years old, back issues aren’t exactly an encouraging injury for the long term. To go along with that, his 4.04 ERA represented a significant regression from his low-to-mid 3.00’s ERA from the last two seasons, and in that same vein, his strikeout dipped to just 4.92 K’s per 9 innings this year.

Fortunately (or not-so-fortunately) for the Nationals, they have no reason to rush Detwiler back. He is a cheap asset for them, as he is under control through 2016, and with the team 13 games out of the NL East lead and 7 games out of the second Wild Card spot, his risky return would be borderline irresponsible.

Previously, there had been chatter about Detwiler coming back to the MLB club as a reliever late in the year, but I don’t see the upside in that unless Washington believes it has a legitimate playoff chance. At this stage, it would be bold to make that assumption, and for now, it seems imminent that we’ll see Detwiler shut down officially.