WASHINGTON (AP) -Right-hander Shawn Hill returned to the Washington Nationals on Wednesday with an open-ended prescription for rest, after an examination at the Mayo Clinic revealed no particular reason for his troubling right forearm soreness.
“The plan is to shut him down,” manager Manny Acta said. “He’s going to rest for a while, then go on a throwing program. But there’s no timetable.”
Hill, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Thursday, is glad that no structural damage was found in his forearm. But he’s growing weary of the uncertainty surrounding the injury.
“I’d like to know what’s going on,” he said. “It’s frustrating not knowing. At the same time, I guess, it’s good news that they’re never able to find anything significantly wrong. They have different ideas about what may be the problem, but nothing career-threatening, career-ending or even more surgery.”
Hill is 1-5 with a 5.83 ERA in 12 starts and last pitched Tuesday, when he gave up eight runs – six earned – in three innings. He visited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., the following day, and a bone scan and MRI exam of his forearm showed nothing out of the ordinary.
After being limited to 16 starts last year with a partially torn left shoulder muscle and a compressed nerve in his right forearm, Hill is frustrated by his inability to remain pain-free.
“At this point, I’m trying to play catch-up from all the injuries,” he said. “You try to look at the positive way. … Everything, structurally, is fine, so there’s no reason I can’t get back to where I was last year at the beginning of the year – and health-wise where I was a long time ago. It’s just a matter of waiting for it to catch up.”
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