Wilson Ramos is “ready to go” after hamate surgery

1 Comment

Expected to miss 4-8 weeks following April 2 hamate bone surgery, Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos declared himself “ready to go” while in Washington to take batting practice today.

Ramos told James Wagner of the Washington Post that he hopes to be in the lineup tomorrow, which would be his first game action since Opening Day.

Ramos has had horrible injury luck early in his career, so hopefully he can rejoin the Nationals and stay problem-free for a while. At age 26 he’s hit .269 with 35 homers and a .767 OPS through 239 career games, showing some of the best offensive potential of any catcher in the league. Hamate injuries often lead to decreased power initially, though, which is Ramos’ main calling card as a hitter.

Jose Lobaton and Sandy Leon have split time fairly evenly in Ramos’ absence without producing much. Lobaton figures to stick around as the backup.

Dodgers place pitcher Noah Syndergaard on injured list with no timetable for return

dodgers syndergaard
Katie Stratman/USA TODAY Sports
0 Comments

CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”