Pirates injured pitcher Ivan Nova resumed playing catch on flat ground on Tuesday, and was given an encouraging progress report as he begins to return from a sprained ligament in his right ring finger.
Nova’s rehab is going to be a bit of a strange one in that he had been playing with the injury for some time. He’s clearly capable of throwing if he had to. But what he was doing while playing through pain wasn’t working for him.
In the six games up to his April 26 injury, Nova had a 3.32 ERA. In the five games since then, he had a 7.61 ERA. But there was no big down-tick in velocity, and he was still able to throw all of his pitches.
“(The injury) was hindering his ability to throw the ball effectively,” Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said. “His velocity was there, but he just wasn’t able to control his pitches.
So as Nova is recovering, it’s going to be more about how well he throws than how often he throws or how hard he throws. That will make his progress tough to monitor, and eventually, he’s going to need to have some kind of sim game or rehab start before the Pirates are going to bring him back to the rotation.
He’ll miss at least one more turn while on the disabled list, as Nick Kingham is the scheduled starter Sunday in St. Louis.
• LHRP Felipe Vazquez (left forearm discomfort) and C Francisco Cervelli (flu-like symptoms) are good to go. Cervelli is starting on Wednesday.
• LHRP Enny Romero (left shoulder impingement) is still in Bradenton. He’s thrown off a slope and did a modified side session on Monday.
• RHRP A.J. Schugel (right shoulder discomfort) is still preparing to throw following a platelet-rich plasma injection.
• RHP Nick Burdi (Tommy John) is on track to begin throwing live batting practice during the month.
