Hisashi Iwakuma was one of the Seattle Mariners' better starting pitchers in 2013 and 2014. The 34-year-old has gotten off to a rocky start in 2015, though, and now he's headed to the disabled list.
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Iwakuma Diagnosed With Grade 1 Lat Strain, Expected to Miss 2-4 Weeks
Saturday, April 25
The Mariners announced that Iwakuma is expected to miss two-to-four weeks with a grade one strain of his right lat.
On Friday, The Mariners announced that Iwakuma will go on the 15-day DL. Seattle called up Lucas Luetge from the Tacoma Rainiers to replace him.
Through three starts this year, Iwakuma is 0-1 with a 6.61 earned run average. Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times noted that Iwakuma's velocity has been down a bit, which might help explain his early struggles. Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon doesn't buy into that theory.
"I'm not overly concerned with velocity," McClendon said. "I'm more concerned with command than velocity right now. He's leaving too many balls in the middle of the plate and working behind on too many hitters. And that's what we have to get straightened out. The velocity will come."
Once Iwakuma returns to full health, he might retain the command that helped make him so effective in the past.
Seattle will certainly have a big hole in its starting rotation with him out.
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