Atlanta Braves reliever Jose Ramirez injury unanswered questions
By Fred Owens
Monday’s tenth inning meltdown by Jose Ramirez and the usual post-game postmortem raised more questions than it answered. Nobody asked those questions.
Jose Ramirez tenth inning debacle resulted in a Braves loss. Braves fans know how inconsistent and wild Ramirez can be so they weren’t surprised it happened.
After the game he went to the DL. If as his interview suggested he was injured, why was he pitching at all?
The game and the interviews
Jordan recapped Monday night’s game and the result isn’t the issue. Reporters asked the same questions they always do after games like this and got answers straight out of Crash Davis’ guide about talking to the media.
After hearing again that bullpen walks are bad and the coaches staff were going to figure out how to stop it, the newshounds turned to player interviews. That’s when things should have become more interesting.
#Braves reliever Ramirez says he has a tight shoulder, says it was tight since spring training but worse now. First we’ve heard about it, no team official has mentioned it.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) April 18, 2018
Ramirez says his right shoulder has been tight since Spring Training, but has recently worsened.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) April 18, 2018
Ramirez on his right shoulder: "just feels tight. When it feels tight like that, it's difficult to be able to throw my offspeed pitches. Been something since Spring Training" #Braves
— 680 The Fan (@680TheFan) April 18, 2018
David O’Brien’s AJC article on Tuesday acknowledges the elephant in the room.
"“. . .I’m trying to get everything sorted out and dealing with my shoulder . . .It just feels tight. And when it feels tight like that it’s difficult to kind of … to be able to throw my off-speed pitches.”"
Ramirez said the tightness appeared and he advised manager, coaches and Braves medical staff about it in spring training.
Mark Bowman’s post confirmed that adding that Ramirez sat around his locker a while looking worried before “. . .escaping to the back of the clubhouse and emerging nearly 30 minutes later with his right shoulder wrapped.”