Twins starter Mick Abel has suffered a setback in his rehab from right elbow inflammation.
A club official confirmed that following a bullpen session on Saturday, Abel experienced soreness in the joint. He received a cortisone shot in his right triceps and will be re-evaluated when the team returns home on Tuesday from its current road trip. The discomfort is in a different location from what initially sidelined him.
“Mick threw a simulated bullpen on Saturday,” assistant general manager Alex Hassan told reporters in Washington on Thursday. “He felt a little sore coming out of that so he ended up getting a cortisone shot. The soreness was more back of the tricep or a tricep impingement [whereas] before, it was in the front of the joint. So, just a little bit of soreness. He got the cortisone.
“They’re going to re-evaluate him on Tuesday and then in terms of timeline, [head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta] wants to get him throwing. Once we get him throwing, we’ll know when he’s going to get off the mound and then can build a timeline from there, but right now it’s re-evaluate on Tuesday.”
Abel was coming off back-to-back excellent starts when he felt soreness in his elbow in mid-April. He had begun throwing off a mound and was encouraged by his progress, but the latest soreness is definitely discouraging.
Rookie left-hander Connor Prielipp has pitched well in Abel’s absence, posting a 3.86 ERA with 15 strikeouts in 14 innings over three starts. He’s scheduled to start again on Friday in Cleveland.
Abel, 24, was acquired from the Phillies last July in the trade that sent Jhoan Duran to Philadelphia.