Stephen Strasburg Injury: Updates on Nationals Star's Ankle and Return

Scott PolacekMar 21, 2015

The Washington Nationals need Stephen Strasburg as one of the anchors of their deep rotation, so it's wise to give him time to recover from his latest ankle injury.

Continue for updates.

Strasburg Says Ankle Is Getting Better

Monday, March 23

"Stephen Strasburg (ankle) will throw one more bullpen and then rejoin the Nats' rotation, [Nationals manager Matt] Williams says. Should be good to go," relayed Dan Kolko of MASN Sports.

On Sunday, Strasburg said his ankle was getting better, per William Ladson of MLB.com. Ladson provided further comments from Strasburg, who injured himself in the weight room:

"
It's kind of an accident. You can't really worry about something like that. I've been doing the same stuff my whole career. It's just unfortunate. Accidents do happen sometimes. ... It feels better every day. It's just very sensitive after I rolled it. I really have to focus on icing and treatment just to get swelling out of there.
If the injury was going to happen, let it happen now. Get it out of the way and get back out there as soon as possible.
"

Strasburg is expected to be available for the start of the regular season, according to Ladson.

On March 21, the Nationals announced Strasburg would miss his scheduled start:

MASN Sports' Chris Johnson provided additional comments from Williams: "I don't think it's serious. But again, you start messing with other parts of the body and go out there and try to pitch and throw as scheduled 75 pitches—we don't want to have any issues with the arm trying to overcompensate so we'll push him a couple days and he'll be good. But it's not serious."

Strasburg has dealt with a number of injuries throughout his career, and he pitched in more than 200 innings for the first time in his career in 2014. He finished with a 14-11 record, a 3.14 ERA, 242 strikeouts and an impressive 1.12 WHIP.

Few pitchers in all of baseball have better pure stuff than a healthy Strasburg, which is why he was able to tally so many strikeouts in 2014. He was 26 years old at the start of the season and should be in the middle of his prime, but this latest injury is cause for concern moving forward.