MIAMI -- The Marlins placed rookie right-hander William Kempner on the 15-day injured list with a right elbow sprain and recalled rookie left-hander Dax Fulton as the corresponding roster move prior to Sunday's 5-2 loss to the Guardians at loanDepot park.
Kempner, who opened his big league career with 10 scoreless innings, struggled in both of his outings this week. He recorded just one out while allowing two runs on two hits and two walks on Thursday against the Mariners, then another two runs over two frames in a 42-pitch outing in Saturday's game vs. Cleveland.
"I think [you say something] at the point where it's affecting your mind going into the game, and for me, going in, up until I'm actually standing on the game mound, it's nagging at me, and I'm in the bullpen trying to throw pitches, and I'm rubbing out my elbow to make it loosen," Kempner told MLB.com. "And I just thought, 'If I'm focusing on this, I can't be actually focusing on my job that I have to do in the game.'"
The 25-year-old Kempner becomes the latest reliever to be sidelined, joining veterans Anthony Bender (right shin stress reaction), John King (left lateral ankle sprain) and Andrew Nardi (rib cage stress reaction), along with rookie Josh Ekness (right calf strain).
Kempner underwent further imaging, though the Marlins didn't announce details of the results.
"You go through a season," manager Clayton McCullough said, "and [Kempner] felt something periodically in his forearm for several weeks, and he'd been working on his sweeper. That might have just led to some of the tension there, and he mentioned it to us yesterday, and was going to go get some imaging done today. Certainly a pitcher's arm, different story, especially the forearm area. We felt it was certainly going to be enough to warrant an IL stint."