Major injury update on Miami Marlins ace

Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara was recently revealed to be injured. It was devastating news as The Fish are already swimming in injuries. We now have more information on his injury and the next steps that he and the team can take. What are these options? What are the next steps? How is Sandy Alcantara progressing with his UCL sprain?

Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara is dealing with a UCL sprain.

UCL sprains are often precursors for Tommy John Surgery, so it's not a surprise that there's a lot of worried anticipation about Sandy's future. Sandy Alcantara was amazing last season, winning the National League Cy Young award. He did this by producing a 2.28 ERA/2.99 FIP, with 8.1 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in 32 games and 228.2 innings pitched. This season is a far cry from that performance, as he has a 4.14 ERA/4.03 FIP, with 7.4 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 in 28 games and 184.2 innings pitched.

Sandy Alcantara seems very comfortable pitching complete games. Has that affected his UCL? He led the Major Leagues with 6 complete games last season, and is leading the Majors with 3 complete games this season. So what's the update on his injuy? He is apparently now "pain-free" as surprising as it sounds.

There are two possible routes that the Miami Marlins and Sandy Alcantara can take at this time. The first is to let him pitch before the end of the season. He might even be able to pitch next week in this scenario. I'm pretty alarmed by this route. Even if Sandy doesn't feel any paid, I would want to see that his sprain is 100% healed. The absence of pain doesn't mean that everything's fine, and pitching might make it worse.

The other option that The Fish and Sandy can take, is to let him rest for six weeks. After that time passes, the injury can then be looked at again. He can then potentially recover or be in need of surgery. I think that the latter approach would work best. You can never be too careful with arm injuries.