The Washington Nationals’ All-Star reliever Sean Doolittle will miss the remainder of the 2022 MLB season. Doolittle, who was placed on the injured list back in April, is set to undergo surgery on his elbow in the coming weeks. He is expected to be out for up to six months before getting back to action.
Doolittle made six appearances for the Nats in 2022 before an elbow sprain landed him on the injured list. He attempted to deal with the issue using platelet-rich plasma and stem cell injections, but these treatments failed to remove the soreness that was holding him back. With the Nationals already out of the playoff picture, the 35-year-old player opted for the surgery in order to deal with the issue long-term.
“There’s still too much instability in the elbow, there’s too much instability being caused by that UCL not being healed enough and not being strong enough,” Doolittle said. “At this point, I just want to go in and get it fixed. I want to get to the root cause of it.”
Sean Doolittle is currently in his second stint with the Nationals. During his first spell with Washington, he made one All-Star appearance and helped the franchise win World Series in 2019.
Doolittle, who also played with the Oakland Athletics and Cincinnati Reds, among other teams, has a 26–24 record with 3.22 ERA, 519 strikeouts, and 112 saves.
