The Cardinals announced that right-hander Hunter Dobbins has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to tightness in his throwing forearm. Southpaw Quinn Mathews was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move, and Mathews will start today’s game against the Phillies.
Mathews was already slated for a recall as Andre Pallante‘s replacement when Pallante went on the 15-day IL yesterday. That was the first time in almost two years that the Cards lost a starter to an arm-related injury, and in true “when it rains, it pours” fashion, Dobbins has now been sidelined the very next day.
An IL placement seemed likely when Dobbins made an early departure from yesterday’s 7-6 loss to the Phillies. Dobbins allowed three runs in four innings of work, and left the game after throwing his first pitch of the fifth. Forearm tightness is particularly troubling for a pitcher with a past Tommy John surgery on his resume, but Dobbins told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other reporters that “one thing I’m confident about is that’s not the same feeling as that. It was pretty night and day difference from that feeling.”
Between that TJ procedure during his college days, a torn right ACL in high school, and another torn right ACL suffered last season with the Red Sox, Dobbins is no stranger to lengthy injury absences. The Sox dealt Dobbins to St. Louis as part of the offseason trade that brought Willson Contreras to Boston, and after completing his ACL rehab, Dobbins has a 3.67 ERA, 22.5% strikeout rate, and 10.4% walk rate over 54 innings in a Cardinals uniform. Dobbins has started eight of his 11 games, and the Dustin May trade at the deadline opened up a full-time slot for Dobbins in the rotation.
Off-days this coming Monday and on August 31 will give the Cards some flexibility as they deal with this sudden lack of rotation depth. Mathews will take one starting job and Goold suggests that Cooper Hjerpe and Brycen Mautz are the likeliest candidates to be called up from Triple-A. Pallante’s injury isn’t thought to be too serious, so he could also be back in perhaps just a minimal 15-day period.
