MLB Rumors: Stephen Strasburg Expected to Miss Rest of Season but Avoid Surgery

Washington Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg is reportedly set to miss the remainder of the 2022 season.

According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the expectation is that a nerve issue will keep Strasburg out for the rest of the campaign, although he won't need to repeat the surgery he underwent last year for thoracic outlet syndrome.

Strasburg, who will turn 34 on Wednesday, has seen his career riddled with injuries:

• 2010: Season ended prematurely after a torn UCL, costing him all but five starts in the 2011 campaign.
• 2015-16: A number of injuries cost him several games in both seasons, and a partially torn pronator tendon ultimately cut his 2016 campaign short. 
• 2018: A number of injuries held him to just 22 starts. 
• 2020: Season cut short after just two appearances, needed carpal tunnel surgery. 
• 2021: Only made five starts, season ended that June due to thoracic outlet syndrome. Had surgery that July.

Strasburg returned to the mound this June but lasted just one start before heading to the injured list yet again, giving up seven runs and eight hits in 4.2 innings.

When healthy, Strasburg has been one of the best pitchers in baseball. He's a three-time All-Star and was the 2019 World Series MVP. He was so good that year (18-6, 3.32 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 251 strikeouts in 209 regular-season innings; 5-0 with a 1.98 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 47 strikeouts in 36.1 postseason innings) that the Nationals signed him to a seven-year, $245 million extension.

He's made just eight starts since.

The Nationals are far closer to rebuilding than contention, so Strasburg's injury woes this season aren't going to hurt a playoff push, since one isn't coming. But it has meant that if the Nationals plan to be sellers, one intriguing arm they could dangle in front of contenders probably isn't an option.