The Pirates have a pair of pitching depth injuries in Indianapolis right now, and both pitchers are trending in different directions with their rehab.
“Casey [Sadler] is resting and still will not throw,” Indianapolis manager Dean Treanor said. “John [Holdzkom] threw another side today. I think that we are getting close to game ready for him, whether that is here right away or he goes somewhere to get a couple of games before he comes back here.”
Sadler made a trip to Pittsburgh over the break, but the decision was made for him to continue resting his injured forearm without any throwing.
Sadler was placed on the DL after his June 21st start, in which he allowed 11 hits and 10 runs in just 4.1 innings of work. While he admitted that he has been dealing with the injury since Spring Training, it finally got the best of him and he was shut down with the forearm strain.
Prior to going to the DL, Sadler had been one of the more consistent starters with Indianapolis and had himself primed for a spot start in the majors if needed. While his ERA sits at 4.22 for the season, it jumped over a point in his last two starts when he was battling the injury and trying to stay off the DL.
As for Holdzkom, he missed about a month of action after being shut down with shoulder fatigue earlier in the season. Prior to the injury, he was only throwing around 55 percent of his pitches for strikes. He was also not seeing the same movement on his pitches that allowed him to crack the Pirates bullpen last season.
Holdzkom has pointed to a lack of good health as the reason for the early season struggles. He said that this led to a lack of confidence in his stuff.
When he returned to action, the movement was back, but the velocity was down 4-5 MPH. This led to Holdzkom being shut down again, after his fastball, which is normally consistently at 96 to 97, was down to 92 and 93. However, he was throwing strikes and getting outs, which was encouraging.
With some of the recent hits to pitching depth toward the top of the organization, the health for both of these hurlers could be important for the Pirates in the second half.
