VIERA, Fla. — A day after Jonny Venters left a game with an injured pitching elbow, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said he was hoping for the best but might not have an update until Thursday.
Venters was preliminarily diagnosed with a sprained left elbow after leaving Tuesday game against Detroit in the middle of an inning while facing a batter.
Gonzalez said Venters, who had ligament-transplant elbow surgery six years ago, was to see Braves team doctor and orthopedic consultant Joe Chandler at the training camp Wednesday while the team played the Nationals in Viera. Following that exam, Venters might require further tests.
“Let’s just wait to see,” Gonzalez said. “I would think we would find out if not (Wednesday) afternoon, or definitely know something by (Thursday)…. I’ve got my fingers crossed that it’s nothing major. See if maybe the worst-case scenario maybe you shut him down for 15 days or so and let it calm down, then go at it again.”
Unfortunately, that would probably be close to a best-case scenario. The worst would be an injury requiring surgery.
Venters had some elbow tightness and had not pitched in a major league game in 13 days before facing the Tigers. He faced five batters in the sixth inning and gave up a leadoff homer, a walk and a triple before throwing a wild pitch to the the backstop against the fifth batter. After the next pitch he was pulled from the game.
The left-hander had a stint on the disabled list in July 2012 for elbow inflammation during his career-worst season. He has 230 relief appearances in three major league seasons, including a majors-leading 85 in 2011.
“To me that’s the hardest job in baseball,” Gonzalez said of relief pitching.
One of the majors’ top relievers in his first two seasons, Venters had 3.22 ERA in 66 appearances last year in his third season. He pitched well after coming back from the DL, with a 1.71 ERA in his final 26 games.
