Twins place Ricky Nolasco on 15-day disabled list with elbow injury

The Minnesota Twins placed starting pitcher Ricky Nolasco on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with a strained elbow, reports Aaron Gleeman of Hardball Talk.

More from Minnesota Twins

Nolasco has been suffering through elbow soreness since spring training, but apparently didn’t inform the team of his issues until this week. On Monday, he left the team to undergo an MRI and visit medical director Dr. John Steubs. The results of that evaluation haven’t been released, but his placement on the DL obviously isn’t a good sign.

According to Twins assistant GM Rob Antony, Nolasco had not sought out medical help from the team before reaching out during a meeting on Monday with manager Rob Gardenhire and pitching coach Rick Anderson.

"“After some coaxing, he finally admitted he’s been struggling since spring training with a bit of a sore elbow,” Antony said. “He said he can’t get loose more than anything, said it gets tight. Some days it’s better than others. (Sunday) he had a real difficult time getting loose, so we called it a day after two innings.”"

Nolasco, signed to a four-year, $49 million deal during the offseason, was pulled after just two innings and 42 pitches during his most recent start against the Yankees. It’s been a disastrous year for the pitcher, but he didn’t offer up any excuses until Monday.

Over 18 starts this season, Nolasco has posted a career-high 5.90 ERA with 72 strikeouts and 28 walks in 103.2 innings. No pitcher in the AL has given up more earned runs and hits this season, so the injury will give him a temporary reprieve from increasing those numbers. Last season, Nolasco posted a 3.70 ERA over 199.1 innings with the Marlins and Dodgers.

Home/Minnesota Twins