Purple Sox lefty Zach Penrod underwent an MRI as a result of an elbow difficulty just lately, and supervisor Alex Cora offered an replace to reporters (together with MassLive’s Chris Cotillo) as we speak on Penrod’s standing. Whereas the MRI revealed no structural injury and solely elbow irritation, Cora acknowledged that he’s been shut down in the interim and that Penrod will “be out for some time” despite the fact that surgical procedure shouldn’t be at present on the desk.
It’s absolutely a irritating growth for the 27-year-old rookie, who made his debut close to the top of the 2024 season with a 2.25 ERA in seven aid outings. Penrod briefly pitched for the Rangers in rookie ball however spent most of his skilled profession up to now in indy ball earlier than getting picked up by the Purple Sox partway via the 2023 marketing campaign. He dominated Double-A pitching final 12 months however hit one thing of a wall at Triple-A with a 5.93 ERA in 27 1/3 innings of labor throughout 15 begins. That didn’t cease the Purple Sox from giving Penrod a September call-up final 12 months, however regardless of his stable ERA within the majors he did wrestle with extra walks (4) than strikeouts (3) on the highest stage.
Even so, Penrod appeared prone to be the membership’s prime lefty depth possibility coming into 2025 behind the trio of southpaws locked into the Opening Day bullpen. Offseason additions Aroldis Chapman and Justin Wilson determine to affix Brennan Bernadino on the membership’s Opening Day roster to provide batters a unique look than the remainder of the membership’s pitching workers, which is dominated by right-handers with ace Garrett Crochet as the one different lefty. Outdoors of Penrod, all the membership’s minor league depth on the 40-man roster is right-handed, although injured gamers Patrick Sandoval and Chris Murphy in addition to non-roster veteran Matt Moore all pitch left-handed and will assist to steadiness out the roster’s handedness in some unspecified time in the future.
It’s not completely clear how lengthy Penrod is slated to overlook, however Cotillo notes that the expectation in the intervening time is that Penrod received’t be returning to the mound “anytime quickly.” That implies a prolonged rehab course of, and given the dangers related to elbow points it shouldn’t be a shock if the membership is extraordinarily cautious with Penrod as they give the impression of being to keep away from aggravating his ailing elbow to the purpose the place surgical procedure is important. Provided that, MLB.com notes that Penrod received’t be returning till in some unspecified time in the future in Might on the earliest, although even that timeline might be an aggressive estimate and it wouldn’t be uncommon for Penrod to overlook a number of months as a result of ailment.
