SF Giants starting pitcher receives good news from elbow examination

SF Giants starter Anthony DeSclafani will be shut down for a few weeks after receiving a positive second opinion on his elbow.

Steven Rissotto | Aug 3, 2023

SF Giants starting pitcher receives good news from elbow examination /

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San Francisco Giants

As the team continues to mix and match with an unstable starting rotation, the SF Giants received some rather positive news regarding veteran starting pitcher Anthony DeSclafani.

SF Giants starter Anthony DeSclafani delivers a pitch against the Mets. (2023) — Anthony DeSclafani throws a pitch at Oracle Park / D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

The veteran right-hander said his second opinion with Dr. Keith Meister confirmed a Grade 1 right flexor tendon strain, lining up with the Giants’ original diagnosis. According to Susan Slusser of the SF Chronicle, DeSclafani will be shut down from throwing for a few weeks.

The Giants placed him on the 15-day injured list on July 30. Tristan Beck was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento in his place. DeSclafani will IL for the second time this season after missing 12 games in July with right shoulder fatigue.

DeSclafani, 33, has struggled mightily in 2023. He started well in April, pitching to a 2.70 ERA in his first five starts with just three walks and 27 strikeouts across 30 innings of work, but declined profusely since then. Since May 1, he’s been one of the game’s least productive starters, recording a 5.81 ERA with just under seven strikeouts an inning.

The Giants even went far enough to use an opener in front of him in his last outing on July 23 in Washington against the Nationals. He completed 4 ⅓ innings, allowing eight hits, four earned runs, and two walks while striking out two.

Published Aug 3, 2023

STEVEN RISSOTTO

Steven Rissotto (he/him) is an award-winning journalist who currently covers the San Francisco Giants for SFBay.ca and Giants Baseball Insider. At 19-years-old in 2021, he joined SF Bay Media as the Giants beat writer, covering games a few times a week during the Giants’ record-setting 107-win season. Along with his game story coverage he is also the host of RizzoCast, a baseball podcast he founded in 2020 that features interviews with professional and amateur baseball players, coaches, media, fans, and everyone else around the game. Past guests have included Tyler Glasnow, Bob Kendrick, Shawn Estes, Bill Laskey, Renel Brooks Moon, Dave Dravecky, Ned Colletti, Denard Span, Ron Wotus, Joe Maddon, J.T. Snow and more. He is also a co-host with Tylor Hall on the Shutdown Inning Podcast, a show focused on all the latest happenings around the baseball world. Both podcasts are available on YouTube and everywhere podcasts are found. Currently, he is a student at San Francisco State University where he is majoring in Journalism with an emphasis in print/online and minoring in education. At SF State, he is the managing editor for Golden Gate Xpress, the student-run newspaper. He was formerly a member of the newspaper at Skyline College, where he served as editor-in-chief and news editor while also writing sports and features. He was formerly a student-journalist at Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco, where he pitched for the baseball team and covered some of the biggest stories in campus history. This includes a new multi-sports facility on campus, the breaking news coverage of Riordan’s coed announcement and the COVID-19 pandemic. Steven is well-respected by his peers and has been honored numerous times by Student Newspapers Online, JEA, ACP, and the California Publishing Association. In 2021, he finished second in the country for Reporter of the Year for ACP among the two-year college schools.