The Philadelphia Phillies could be without one of their most-experienced players for the remainder of the season. Starting pitcher Clay Buchholz has been diagnosed with a partial tear of right flexor pronator mass in his right arm.
While the 32-year-old starter won't have to undergo Tommy John Surgery, he is expected to miss four-to-six months. Buchholz suffered the injury in his last start, at which point an original diagnoses indicated tha the did in fact suffer the tear. Now, a more concrete timetable has been released.
Buchholz is in his first season with Philadelphia after spending the past decade with the Boston Red Sox. He was expected to act as a top-of-the-rotation arm for the rebuilding team.
This could potentially push top prospect Nick Pivetta to the Majors sooner than expected. The former fourth-round pick of the Nationals has posted an absurd 0.69 ERA and 0.62 WHIP in two starts at Triple-A thus far this season.