Toronto Blue Jays' Drew Hutchison Becomes Lastest Starter to Fall with Injury

Pinch yourselves all you want Blue Jays fans, you're not dreaming.

Another starter seems ready to hit the disabled list.

With the Jays already having lost Brandon Morrow in the first inning of his Monday night start against the Washington Nationals with a left oblique strain, and Kyle Drabek, who was forced to leave in the fifth inning of his Wednesday start, also against the Nationals with torn ligaments in his right arm (both were also subsequently placed on the DL), the injury bug has bitten the Blue Jays starting rotation yet again.

The latest victim is the young right-hander Drew Hutchison, who was forced to exit in the first inning of his Friday night start, citing elbow soreness as the primary reason.

While the Jays will not know more about the severity of the injury to Hutchison, or how long he may be out, it goes without saying that if Drew Hutchison were to hit the DL, Toronto's hopes of making the 2012 postseason would be all but dashed.

With Brett Cecil set to make his first start of the season Sunday and Kyle Drabek's replacement yet to be determined, trying to find a third replacement starter adds to an already complicated situation for Blue Jays management (at this point, it seems like the two most likely candidates would be Jesse Chavez, currently playing with the Las Vegas 51s, and Carlos Villanueva, currently pitching out of the bullpen for the Jays).

What's worse for Toronto is that it finally seemed as though the 21-year-old starter was finally starting to come around.

Over the last month, Hutchison had been one of Toronto's top starters and posted a 4-1 record with an ERA under 3.00 over a five-game span, which helped him recover from a rather disastrous start to his major league career (he had an ERA over 6.50 in his first four career starts).

To lose a pitcher who had found his groove at that age should be a major cause for concern for the Blue Jays and their fans alike.

Forget the momentum of his current stretch being lost (though his last outing in Atlanta may also have been a momentum-stopping performance as well), it's time to think about the long-term ramifications of this potential injury.

While I don't want to jump to the worst possible conclusion before all the details of his injury are disclosed, if he were to land on the DL for a long stretch, one would have to think that this injury could change the course of the youngsters career (stunted development, intensive rehab, possible velocity issues, etc).

Naturally, we're all hoping that Drew's injury isn't too serious and that he won't miss more than a start or two (especially when you take into account that this kid has worked his way up from being a ninth round pick, to being a Top 10 prospect, all the way into a major league team's starting rotation in a matter of three years).

It seems fitting though that the Jays will probably not reveal who Hutchison's replacement will be until a day or two before the game is set to take place, seeing as that's the exact same way Hutchison himself found out that he'd be making his major league debut.

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