The baseball world paused again in panic as it looked like another one of the game’s young, top hard throwers was going down with an elbow injury, but it looks like we can all exhale.
Yordano Ventura, the 22-year-old flame thrower for the Kansas City Royals, left his start against the Astros on Monday during the third inning after being roughed up for five runs and showing decreased velocity. There was concern about his elbow being injured, but the MRI reportedly came back clean.
According to FOX MLB reporter Ken Rosenthal, Royals GM Dayton Moore said on MLB Network that Ventura’s MRI was clean:
#Royals GM Dayton Moore just said on #MLBNow that Ventura's MRI came back clean and that he is expected to miss just one start.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 27, 2014
Ventura averaged 97.5 mph on his fastball last season and 96.7 mph this season. He was clocking 91 mph on Monday.
As has become typical with young hard throwers, he complained of elbow problems. That was the same pattern with Matt Harvey and Jose Fernandez, who both are now Tommy John surgery guys.
Just so you understand what we’re dealing with here, check out this nugget from Yahoo!’s Jeff Passan:
If Ventura needs TJ, seven of nine hardest-throwing big-league starters from 2013-14 will have had it. Only three of next 21 underwent it.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 27, 2014
Ventura doesn’t need TJ surgery yet, thankfully, but it just goes to show that throwing as hard as these guys do causes a great strain on the body and often results in injury.
