Written by Chelsea Janes at WashingtonPost.com
Stephen Strasburg’s ulnar collateral ligament is intact. The Washington Nationals pitcher does not need another Tommy John surgery. His season may not be over yet, though it might be, because Strasburg — who left Wednesday night’s game in the third inning after feeling a “pinch in the back of his elbow,” according to his manager — does have a strain of the flexor mass in his right elbow, and his timetable for a return is unclear.
Nationals Manager Dusty Baker said he “did a lot of praying” Wednesday night that the injury was not as bad as it could have been. Thursday, he agreed it was accurate to call this news the best-case scenario. When pitchers have elbow pain, something is wrong. If something is wrong, better a flexor mass strain than something worse — though the Nationals will follow team protocol and send Strasburg to orthopedic surgeon Neal ElAttrache of the Yocum group for a second opinion, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation.
“Everybody’s pretty satisfied of where we are at this point, and it’s very good to know,” Baker said. “Exactly the timetable we don’t know, but it’s good to hear that it wasn’t what everybody was speculating that it was.”
Trainer Paul Lessard delivered the news to reporters in an unorthodox meeting around 4 p.m. Thursday, an hour or two after the Nationals got the results of Strasburg’s second MRI exam this season. Lessard had never addressed the D.C. media, and his opening statement was a memorable one.
“I know everyone was concerned that he re-injured that Tommy John ligament, and the answer is no,” Lessard said. “The ligament is good.”
What isn’t good is Strasburg’s flexor mass, which Lessard described as being on the inside of the elbow. Flexor tendons run down through the wrist and flex fingers, and therefore are called upon “anytime you flex your wrist or pronate your wrist,” Lessard said. All those flexors attach in one place on the inside of the elbow, a place where a lot of things converge — including the ulnar nerve — which means pain in that area can be confusing, scary and hard to pin down.
Strasburg had been dealing with right elbow discomfort for the last three weeks, enough of it that the Nationals placed him on the disabled list. Forty-two pitches into his first game back, he was walking off the mound with more discomfort, though Lessard said this pain was different than the swelling in the “posterior” of the elbow that caused that disabled list stint.
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