The MRI Purple Sox pitching prospect Bryan Mata underwent on Thursday uncovered a slight tear in his ulnar collateral ligament, manager Alex Cora announced Saturday early morning.
Mata, 21, was at first slated to pitch in Wednesday’s Grapefruit League contest towards the Twins, but was ultimately scratched from that visual appearance thanks to soreness guiding his proper triceps.
After going through that aforementioned MRI the pursuing working day, it turns out that Mata has a slightly torn UCL. The Red Sox will consider to treat the ailment without surgical procedures for the time staying.
“Unfortunately with Bryan, he has a slight tear in his UCL,” Cora told reporters previously Saturday. “So we’re going to shut him down. The way we’re going to go with him is heading to be procedure. The medical professionals and the medical professionals truly feel that it is tiny adequate that with treatment method and performing that, he really should be wonderful.”
A fiery suitable-hander out of Venezuela, Mata arrived into spring coaching as the top rated pitching prospect — and the No. 4 over-all prospect — in the Pink Sox farm method according to Baseball The united states.
There is now no timetable established for his return, but it would look that the Sox have already produced a roadmap of kinds for their youthful hurler.
“There’s no timetable,” explained Cora. “There’s heading to be a few checkpoints throughout the system, and if he’s disciplined and follows everything that we are established to do, the hope is for him to arrive back again.”
Boston originally signed Mata out of Venezuela for just $25,000 again in early 2016. Due to the fact earning his professional debut later that year, the 6-foot-3, 238 lb. righty has compiled a 3.40 Era and 1.35 WHIP above 69 occupation starts off spanning 315 innings pitched throughout four insignificant-league levels.
With there being no small-league time in 2020 owing to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and all, Mata put in time at each the Sox’ alternate coaching site in Pawtucket and slide educational league in Fort Myers very last calendar year. He was added to the club’s 40-person roster in November.
Presented how he has risen through the prospect ranks, it appeared that Mata was primed to make his massive-league debut at some point this year, but that might now have to wait due to this sudden hurdle.
“As you fellas know, he’s quite critical for us,” stated Cora. “It’s a tough one particular, but at the similar time we do think that he’s going to bounce back again and he’s likely to be Okay.”
For every his SoxProspects.com scouting report, Mata’s pitch combine is made up of a higher-octane fastball, a curveball, a slider, and a changeup. His fastball sat in between 96-97 mph at the alternate site over the summertime and tops out at 100 mph.
“Obviously we have to be patient and see how he reacts,” Cora mentioned in regards to Mata’s street to recovery. ““When you start off speaking about the UCL, clearly it is anything that we do not come to feel comfy, of course, because it is the UCL. We’ve just acquired to be patient. And he has to be affected person. He’s young adequate that possibly everything’s going rapid for him ideal now. But he’s mature plenty of, as well, to comprehend that these points happen in excess of the program of your job. He did an amazing task in the offseason to get in form and get his arm wherever it’s supposed to be. It is an impediment in his career. But we do sense like he’s going to bounce again and he’s likely to be Alright.”