Gerrit Cole has been placed on the 15-day DL (retroactive to June 4th) and will miss at least two scheduled starts with “right shoulder fatigue”.
The possibility of the DL stint was brought up by manager Clint Hurdle after yesterday afternoon’s 9-3 loss to the Brewers.
“Yes, but other than that, just because you want to make sure you’re protecting a guy, so the conversation is being had,” said Hurdle. “I think fatigue is the proper word and if you look at the season he pitched last year. The run he went on with us late. Coming out of the chute, we just feel that it’s fatigue at this point in time.”
In Cole’s last start, his fastball velocity dropped substantially between the third and fourth innings from a range of 95-98 in the first three innings to a range of 91-95 in the later innings. In a typical outing, Cole’s fastball velocity sits between 94-97 with an occasional 98 mph.
That was one of a few instances Hurdle noticed that brought on this situation.
“There have been some things that we’ve talked about, just some red flags that you pick up. Consistency of pitches, volume of pitches, efficiency of pitches. There’s a lot of different factors that you look at and you do talk to him and get his feedback, as well.”
Jeff Locke will start this afternoon in Cole’s place with Charlie Morton’s start being pushed back a day to get some more work in. He will start in Monday’s series opener against Chicago.
(Photo Credit: Brian Kersey/Getty Images)
