Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Luke Weaver has been a disappointment since the team acquired him a month ago at the MLB trade deadline. He has dealt with one highly unusual issue that has at least something to do with that.
Weaver said he has been dealing with a severe case of poison ivy that has impacted the lower half of his body. The Pirates pitcher said he had his encounter with the ivy during the team’s trip to Miami between Aug. 11 and Aug. 13, and has barely slept for the last month.
“I’ve had my own set of personal challenges over the last month, and I’ve kept them to myself, but at the end of the day, I’ve had almost a month worth of severe poison ivy,” Weaver told Jose Negron of DK Pittsburgh Sports. “To the point where I’ve just been in hives over my entire lower body. I got it in Miami, so shortly after getting here. Brushed up against a bush and my body went into a really bad state. I’ve been fighting my own personal battle with sleep. I haven’t slept in about a month, I wake up a lot. But that’s my own deal. I’m trying to find ways every single day.”
While a poison ivy issue might sound silly, anything severe enough to last for a month has to be very severe. One can see how it would easily impact the ability for Weaver to pitch. He might feel a bit cursed at this point, since this is not the first time he has been impacted by a bizarre injury.
Weaver had a 1.84 ERA with the New York Mets, where he served as the team’s setup man. He started his Pirates career with two scoreless appearances, but has since allowed six earned runs in 7.1 innings. Perhaps not coincidentally, all of those appearances came after his brush with poison ivy.
