St. Louis Cardinals will officially be without right-hand pitcher Miles Mikolas this season. The team confirmed on Tuesday that Mikolas will require surgery on his forearm, which will put him out for 2020. The team, however, expects him to fully recover in time to start the next MLB season.
Mikolas was originally diagnosed with forearm soreness in February and underwent platelet-rich plasma injection treatment. It appeared that the 31-year-old player managed to recover in the meantime as he started the training camp as a full participant. Still, after pitching in an exhibition game last week, he started feeling discomfort again and was advised to have surgery.
“I know Miles is disappointed, but he also knows he couldn’t continue like he was going,” said Cardinals’ president of baseball operations John Mozeliak.
Cardinals decided to temporarily fill the void in their rotation by recalling right-hander Jake Woodford, who was part of the team’s “taxi squad” on previous occasions. They are expected to look into several other solutions from within, but Mozeliak didn’t rule out the possibility of signing players from the outside.
Miles Mikolas signed with St. Louis Cardinals in 2018 after spending the previous three seasons in Japan. Mikolas’ first year back in MLB was a big success, as he earned an All-Star appearance and led NL in wins with 18-4 record. He had 2.83 ERA with 146 strikeouts.
In 2019, Mikolas had a 9-14 record, posting 4.16 ERA and 144 strikeouts.
