LOS ANGELES – Braves pitcher Mike Foltynewicz has bone chips in his elbow and was placed on the 15-day disabled list late Friday after deciding he didn’t feel comfortable pitching through the injury and making his scheduled start Saturday.
Bud Norris will move from the bullpen to make Saturday’s start against the Dodgers and the Braves will bring up a reliever from the minors in time for the game.
An MRI and CT scan showed no structural damage in the elbow and neither the Braves nor Foltynewicz believe the injury is serious, but the hard-throwing right-hander didn’t feel ready for the rigors of pitching a major league game after learning that it’s small bone spurs causing the discomfort he felt since his last start Monday.
“It doesn’t hurt when I throw, it just hurts when I do normal stuff like pull on my cap or brush my teeth, take off my jersey,” said Foltynewicz. “But if this is something that I have to pitch with and learn how to pitch with, I’ll do it.”
Foltynewicz said he’s just not ready to do that right now, this soon, after noticing himself alter his mechanics a few times in his bullpen side session this week, when he dropped his arm angle on a couple of pitches and didn’t extend on a couple of others. Favoring the elbow despite what he says is a lack of discomfort when actually throwing.
“We’re just going to go out and try to get this taken care of, get it settled, then come back and help the team win,” he said. “First time that I’ve had elbow problems, and it’s something that I’m just going to get it taken care of.”
Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said that when he got to the ballpark Friday, the plan still was for Foltynewicz to start Saturday.
“He got here today and as of this afternoon he was going to start the game,” Snitker said. “But as the day wore on as he was here, he felt like he couldn’t go (make the start), so we’re just going to make sure we get it right.”
Foltynewicz’s 2015 season ended abruptly in September when he developed blood clots in his pitching arm and had to be rushed to the hospital after it swelled overnight. He was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome and had surgery to remove part of a rib in order to ease the pressure.
He couldn’t begin throw again until January and was 2-3 weeks behind other pitchers at spring training, which required Foltynewicz to begin the season in Triple-A. But since returning to the majors he’d made great strides and was pitching better than he’d ever pitched before in parts of two previous seasons in the big leagues.
He’s 2-2 with a 3.51 ERA in six starts, and has 28 strikeouts with eight walks in 33 1/3 innings. On Monday he limited the Giants to three hits and one run in six innings.
That injury history perhaps figured into Foltynewicz’s decision not to push forward right away with this latest issue.
“He has been through a lot,” Snitker said. “That’s got to weigh on a person’s mind a little bit. But Bud’s raring to go. Hopefully he can go out and give us six or seven innings.”
Foltynewicz told the team late in the week that the discomfort had persisted in his elbow. He was sent for an MRI and CT scan Thursday in Atlanta and the Braves found out the results after the team charter landed in Los Angeles late Thursday.
The tests revealed no ligament damage or other structural damage, just the bone spurs. Pitchers – and position players – often play for extended period with bone spurs, keeping the condition manageable through treatment including ice and heat contrast applications and massage.
Since the tests showed no ligament damage or other structural damage, Foltynewicz initially said he wanted to make the start Saturday.
“Like I said, if this is something that I’m going to have to get used to pitch through, then I’m going to go out and get mentally ready to do it,” he said. “Because right now I’m not ready to pitch with it. But I think I’ll be back soon and back on the same path.’
Bone spurs are common among pitchers and generally only require surgery when they restrict movement or become so uncomfortable that a pitcher alters his pitching mechanics, or if the spur rubs against a ligament or other tissue and begins to do damage.
