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In response to
"‘This is it’: How Jarred Kelenic adjusted body and mind to live up to the hype
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by
crash davis 😺
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Mariners’ Robbie Ray needs flexor tendon surgery, will miss rest of regular season
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By Corey Brock
Apr 26, 2023
Mariners starting pitcher Robbie Ray, who strained his left flexor tendon earlier this month, will have surgery and miss the rest of the regular season. Here’s what you need to know:
Seattle manager Scott Servais said Wednesday that Ray will have a “flexor tendon repair” procedure.
Ray left his first and only start of the season March 31 against Cleveland after 3 1/3 innings with what was termed a Grade 1 flexor strain.
The 31-year-old, who signed a five-year, $115 million contract with Seattle before the 2022 season, struggled with command of his fastball during that start against the Guardians at T-Mobile Park.
The Mariners shut down Ray for two weeks with the hopes that he would be able to resume his throwing program and return to the rotation. But he underwent further testing, which showed damage in a separate area of the flexor tendon, Servais told reporters in Philadelphia.
Backstory
Ray, who won the American League Cy Young Award in 2021 with the Blue Jays, was coming off a strong spring where he had a 1.06 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 17 innings.
Chris Flexen replaced Ray in the rotation, though he’s posted a 0-4 record and an 8.86 ERA. It’s unclear, separate from the Ray news, if Flexen is in danger of losing his rotation spot.
Ray was 12-12 with a 3.71 ERA in 32 starts last season for the Mariners, striking out 212 batters in 189 innings. But he struggled during the playoffs, allowing five earned runs in 3 2/3 innings. But Ray was able to follow a normal offseason routine — unlike 2022 because of the lockout — and arrived in camp in Arizona in great shape. He hit mid-90s with his fastball early, something it took him a while to ease into a year ago.
Who else could fill in for Ray?
The injury will certainly test the depth of the organization, which isn’t something the Mariners ever had to deal with during a blissful 2022 when they didn’t have a single starting pitcher miss time with an injury. That was a big reason why the Mariners won 90 games and advanced to the postseason for the first time in two decades.
But now they’ll be without Ray for the rest of 2023. Maybe Flexen is the long-term answer, though 2020 first-round pitcher Emerson Hancock or another righty, Bryan Woo, a teammate of Hancock’s in Double A, could eventually find their way to the big leagues.
Easton McGee and Darren McCaughan have both pitched well of late with Triple-A Tacoma and are on the 40-man roster. Hancock and Woo are not. Another consideration is veteran Tommy Milone, who is in Tacoma and made a spot start earlier this month with the Mariners when Marco Gonzales landed on the paternity list.
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