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The 2023 MLB season is shaping up to be the Year of the Oblique. From Tyler Glasnow to Harrison Bader to Seiya Suzuki, it seems like every other day another big name gets put on the shelf with one of baseball’s most notoriously nagging injuries. Monday afternoon added another one to the list: Cleveland Guardians starter Aaron Civale.
Aaron Civale injury update
May 24 Update: Civale threw three scoreless innings in a recent rehab assignment start. He will likely get one or two more rehab appearances to make sure there are no setbacks before rejoining the major league club either at the end of the month or the beginning of June.
May 4 Update: Civale was able to throw a bullpen session on Wednesday. He is still expected to be sidelined until late May or early June, but this is a positive step towards his recovery.
The Guardians announced that Civale was being placed on the 15-day injured list with what’s being termed a left oblique strain.
Aaron Civale is heading to the 15-day IL with a left oblique strain. Peyton Battenfield called up.
— Mandy Bell (@MandyBell02) April 10, 2023
The team has yet to offer a potential timeline for return, but judging by others who’ve dealt with the same injury this year it’s safe to say that Civale will be out for a while — the Guardians put him on the 15-day rather than the 10-day IL, and it seems like it’s going to take Glasnow seven or eight weeks to make it back from a similar injury.
After a difficult 2022 season, the righty was off to a dream start this year, parlaying a strong spring — in which he displayed newfound velocity — into a 2.84 ERA over his first two starts. It comes at a particularly tough time for Cleveland, who’s already without star Triston McKenzie with a shoulder muscle strain. The Guardians have long been known as a pitching factory, but that reputation is about to get put to the test in a big way.
For fantasy baseball owners who had picked up Civale in the hope that he could provide streaming value, fear not — you can check out both our waiver wire adds and two-start pitchers posts for recommendations on who to pick up as a replacement.