The Kansas City Royals decided to put ailing starter Yordano Ventura on the 15-day disabled list on Thursday, instead of allowing him to make a start against the Red Sox on Friday as they intended earlier in the week. The KC Royals called up Yohan Pino from AAA Omaha to take Ventura’s start.
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The move comes after Ventura lasted three innings in his last two starts. Ventura left after the third inning of his start last Friday against the Cardinals after suffering numbness in three fingers of his throwing hand (right).
The Kansas City Royals did an MRI on Ventura, and found fluid around the ulnar never but no tears in the ligament. They initially believed Yordano Ventura would be able to make his next start, but then decided to move him back two days to Friday’s home game against the Red Sox after a 35-pitch throwing session on Monday.
Now, the KC Royals have reconsidered and put Ventura on the DL.
This caution is well founded since numbness in the fingers is also a symptom of a torn ulnar collateral ligament, which would require season ending Tommy John surgery.
Yordano Ventura now becomes the third Kansas City Royals starting pitcher on the disabled list, along with Danny Duffy and Jason Vargas. Kansas City now has three players acquired as rotation depth this winter making starts for the team: Chris Young, Joe Blanton, and now, Yohan Pino.
The current rotation problems could force general manager Dayton Moore to make a deal for a starting pitcher. Recent reports have surfaced that the Kansas City Royals sent a scout to Cincinnati Reds ace Johnny Cueto‘s last start.
Cueto would not only help the rotation’s current shortage of warm bodies, he also would be a big prize for a prospective KC Royals playoff run. Cueto, however, will cost a pretty penny in trade, despite being in the last year of his contract before free agency.
Stay tuned Kansas City Royals fans.
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