McCullers Jr. Not Expected To Be Ready To Join Astros Teammates By Opening Day

Lance McCullers Jr. has been experiencing soreness in his throwing arm that will need rehab.

Lance McCullers Jr. had been optimistic about joining his Houston Astros teammates for Opening Day.

That’s now extremely unlikely.

McCullers Jr. was shut down last week after experiencing soreness in his throwing arm. McCullers Jr. underwent Tommy John surgery in November of 2018.

McCullers Jr. had an magnetic resonance imaging test taken Tuesday night and there was no structural damage to the elbow, according to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com.

McCullers Jr. said that it was a small muscle strain and he hopes to rehab and be able to throw 150 innings this year.

But he’s expected to be shut down for about three weeks.

“I’m not going to lie. It’s been a tough couple of days just having to come to the reality that I’m not going to be a part of the team to open the season and I’m going to have to undergo another rehab,” McCullers Jr. said.

McCullers Jr. threw a career high 162 1/3 innings in the 2021 regular season, but went down with a forearm injury in the American League Division Series that kept him out of the ALCS and World Series. He was limited to eight starts in ‘22.

He pitched in all three rounds of the postseason and compiled a 5.87 ERA with one start in each round.

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