Astros ace scratched with elbow issue adding to MLB’s injury epidemic

The Houston Astros were expected to once again be World Series contenders, especially after signing Josh Hader in free agency, but have gotten off to a 3-7 start to their season entering play on Monday. A big reason for that had to do with the injuries they're dealing with.

Justin Verlander, Lance McCullers Jr., Jose Urquidy, and Luis Garcia all began the year on the IL, forcing Houston to dig deep on the depth chart to find starting pitching. That has worked out with Ronel Blanco, but there's only so much one team can take. To make matters worse, the Astros now have another injured starter on their hands in Framber Valdez.

A rotation of Verlander, Valdez, McCullers, Urquidy, and Garcia would be among the league's elite when healthy, and there's a good chance that all five will be on the IL at the same time. Valdez was not placed on the IL after being scratched from Monday's start, but it certainly feels like there is a very good chance he will land there after a doctor's visit on Tuesday.

Not only is Valdez the latest Astros pitcher to get hurt, but he's one of many pitchers in baseball suffering from elbow troubles.

Framber Valdez is just the latest pitcher to suffer an elbow injury

Just recently we've seen Eury Perez, Shane Bieber, and Spencer Strider all suffer elbow injuries. Perez and Bieber are undergoing Tommy John Surgery, and there's a very real possibility that Strider is going to undergo his second. Those stars join players like Jacob deGrom, Gerrit Cole, Sandy Alcantara, Shohei Ohtani, and many more with elbow troubles. It's gotten out of hand.

MLB is not making anything better by instituting a pitch clock and banning sticky stuff, but pitchers putting maximum effort into every pitch certainly plays a role too. What MLB can do to fix this major issue is unclear, but they have to come up with something. The game's best players are suffering these major injuries costing them full seasons (and often more) in their primes.

Replacing Valdez for the Astros on Monday is Blair Henley, a right-hander who is going to make his MLB debut against the Rangers. Hopefully, the Astros are right and this is much ado about nothing, but it's hard to not be concerned not only for Valdez but for pitchers in general who continue to drop like flies.