The Boston Red Sox announced that LHP Chris Sale will undergo Tommy John surgery on his left elbow.
Sale, 30, experienced pain in his throwing elbow and underwent an MRI at the beginning of March. On Mar. 5 the team announced that Sale had a flexor strain in his left elbow. Surgery was not deemed necessary at the time and instead he was instructed to rest for a few weeks before beginning to throw again.
Sale began throwing earlier this week for the first time since he received his MRI results. However, his elbow did not show the type of improvement that was anticipated and Sale will instead undergo surgery.
The Red Sox ace was originally shut down from throwing last season in August due to elbow inflammation. Before his shutdown, Sale experienced one of the worst seasons of his career.
Sale went 6-11 with a career-high 4.40 ERA, 1.086 WHIP and 218 strikeouts in 147 1/3 innings across 25 starts in 2019. Sale also put up a 2.4 bWAR and 3.6 fWAR last season, which were both his lowest marks since becoming a starter in 2012.
As of now, the Red Sox have a rotation of Eduardo Rodriguez, Nathan Eovaldi and Martin Perez, followed by two open spots.
