Senzatela set for season-ending Tommy John surgery
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DENVER -- The Rockies’ awful year of pitching injuries continued on Friday, when manager Bud Black announced that right-hander Antonio Senzatela will undergo Tommy John surgery on his right elbow and miss the remainder of the season.
Not only do the Rockies have four of their projected starters on the injured list as the second half begins, but all three of the rotation members under multiyear deals are infirm. Colorado entered Friday night’s game against the Yankees at Coors Field with the National League’s worst record (34-57).
Senzatela, in the second year of a five-year, $50.5 million contract, began the season on the injured list while recovering from left knee surgery that ended his 2022 season in August. He returned on May 5 and allowed one run on three hits and one walk in five innings of a 1-0 road loss to the Mets. But in his next start, on May 11 at Pittsburgh, Senzatela left after 2 2/3 innings.
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A platelet-rich plasma shot and some encouraging bullpen sessions had Senzatela believing he could make it back, but he lasted just two bullpen sessions.
“Senzatela’s injury presented itself [Saturday] in San Francisco,” Black said. “When he threw on the side, it didn’t go well.”
Over seven seasons, Senzatela is 39-43 with a 4.87 ERA in 145 games (119 starts), all with the Rockies. Senzatela broke in as a rookie in 2017, when Colorado made the first of two straight postseason appearances.
Senzatela is one of four members of Colorado’s expected starting rotation populating the injured list, and he joins Opening Day starter Germán Márquez, who is at the end of his five-year, $48 million deal, in needing season-ending Tommy John surgery. The Rockies hold a $16 million option on Márquez’s contract for 2024.
Righty Ryan Feltner sustained a fractured skull when he was hit by a line drive on May 13.
Lefty Kyle Freeland, in the second year of his five-year, $64.5 million contract, sustained a dislocated right (non-throwing) shoulder on Sunday at San Francisco. Freeland said Friday there is no timetable for his return, but he is feeling better and healing without surgery or anti-inflammatory medication.
Senzatela, Freeland and Márquez all were rookies in 2017.