The Cardinals have one of the most exciting young relief pitchers in baseball in Jordan Hicks, but have gotten very little in the way of innings from him the last few years.
Hicks, 24, went down in mid-2019 to have Tommy John surgery, and then opted out of the 2020 season. So he was only now finally returning to big league action this year, but after 10 unproductive innings, he had to leave his last outing with discomfort. He’s now been sent to the Injured List with “elbow inflammation.” Given the previous surgery, presumably, as well as the extreme force he puts on that elbow, this will not be a short-term shutdown:
Cardinals Jordan Hicks out a minimum four weeks, per Mozeliak
— Benjamin Hochman (@hochman) May 4, 2021
The Cubs play the Cardinals in a little over two weeks, so it sounds like Hicks will not be around for that series. The Cardinals are already without Yadi Molina, Miles Mikolas, and Dakota Hudson (the first two figure to be back soon-ish, Hudson is out for the year), so they’re certainly getting bit by the bug a bit.
To date, the best highlight we have from Hicks’ comeback this year was that insane, marathon, 22-pitch at bat against Luis Guillorme from Spring Training, which was his very first batter faced on the year.