Texas Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, having one of the best seasons of any starting pitcher in the major leagues, is likely done for the year because of a strained rotator cuff.
Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young made the announcement on Tuesday about Eovaldi, 35, who has been among the leading contenders for the American League Cy Young Award.
Eovaldi last pitched on Friday, not getting the decision in the Rangers’ 4-3 home win over the Cleveland Guardians. He allowed one run on four hits with no walks and nine strikeouts in seven innings.
He felt soreness on Sunday when playing catch, and an MRI on Tuesday confirmed the strain, The Dallas Morning News reported. Young said Eovaldi will not need surgery.
“He’s been a tremendous teammate and competitor for us all year,” Young said. “You hate to see this happen to somebody who’s been so important to the organization, but it seems par for the course with how some of the season has gone.”
Texas is 15-7 when Eovaldi starts, 51-60 when another pitcher takes that role.
“I’m very disappointed,” said Eovaldi, per The Dallas Morning News. “It was just kind of surprising to see the results of the MRI. It’s just frustrating how the season has been going, how we’ve been throwing the ball lately and trying to pick back up and make a good run. I don’t want to rule out the rest of the season, but it’s not looking very great.”
Eovaldi is 11-3 this season with a career-best 1.73 ERA along with 21 walks and 129 strikeouts in 130 innings over 22 starts. Eovaldi, who was left off the American League roster for the All-Star Game, also has one shutout. He has not lost a game since May 22, a 1-0 setback at the New York Yankees.
He was sidelined for nearly all of June because of right elbow inflammation, which also impacted his eligibility as a statistical leader. Eovaldi led the majors in ERA after Friday’s outing because he had reached 130 innings in the team’s 130 games played — matching the qualifying minimum of one inning per game.
Eovaldi was an All-Star in 2023 with the World Series-champion Rangers and in 2021 with the Boston Red Sox, where he won his first World Series in 2018.
For his career, Eovaldi is 102-84 with a 3.89 ERA, 466 walks and 1,487 strikeouts in 1,702 1/3 innings over 316 games (297 starts) for the Los Angeles Dodgers (2011-12), Miami Marlins (2012-14), New York Yankees (2015-16), Tampa Bay Rays (2018), Red Sox (2018-22) and Rangers (2023-present).
