Phillies All-Star Starter Expected to Throw Shortly After Suffering Back Injury

The Philadelphia Phillies recently had one of their pitchers pick up a back injury, but he and the team received some positive news.

Jeremy Trottier | Mar 21, 2025

Mar 4, 2025; Clearwater, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Ranger Suarez (55) throws a pitch against the New York Yankees in the fifth inning during spring training at BayCare Ballpark. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

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Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies have had a relatively clean injury sheet throughout spring training, with Matt Strahm and Weston Wilson being the only two players who have uncertain status heading into the season.

However, one of the Phillies' All-Star pitchers recently picked up a back injury which was slightly concerning initially.

Thankfully, follow-up reports have indicated the severity is mild and that Ranger Suárez is expected to make a quick recovery. Suárez's status was recently discussed by manager Rob Thomson, as he stated that the starter, "felt a lot better today [Thursday]" and that he is expected to play catch Friday, as was reported by Lochlahn March of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

This is a positive sign as recurring back injuries can become a problem with pitchers. Suárez missed a month of the 2024 season with the same type of injury. Seeing it flare up once again was concerning, but him turning around and immediately being ready to start throwing again is a good indication that he should be good to go sooner rather than later.

The All-Star starting pitcher has been a key rotation piece for Philadelphia in the past few seasons, and 2024 was a breakout year of sorts, getting his nod to head to the game for the first time.

Both before and after the All-Star game he performed well, posting a 3.46 ERA, 1.201 WHIP, 145 strikeouts to 41 walks (3.54 SO/BB), and a complete game shutout.

His production could have been better without that missed month in the middle of the season, which will hopefully be avoided in 2025 as he looks to continue to build off of an extremely positive year.

The Phillies have an exceptional pitching staff heading into the year which should help take some pressure off as well. With bullpen additions such as Jordan Romano and Joe Ross, as well as improvement from Orion Kerkering and José Alvarado, things could get very interesting.

Having a strong bullpen is one thing, but Philadelphia also has other starters to take some workload off of Suárez if needed, with Zach Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez, Aaron Nola, and Jesús Luzardo projected to be the group around him. Additionally, No. 1 prospect Andrew Painter is making a strong push for the MLB roster and could see his debut coming later this season.

It is good to see that Suárez is recovering rapidly, and with the players around him ready to kick off the 2025 season, he seems to be nearing ready to go as Opening Day grows nearer.

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