Washington Nationals going the ‘ultra cautious’ route with Connelly Early

Washington Nationals manager Blake Butera said the forearm tightness that new ace Connelly Early experienced during a bullpen session this week isn’t “super concerning,” but I would say, don’t be super surprised if Early ends up getting shut down for the season.

Early, the 2023 UVA Baseball alum acquired by the Nats in the trade deadline deal with the Boston Red Sox for third baseman Curtis Mead, was already on the IL with left elbow inflammation, dating back to July 1.

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ICYMI

• UVA Baseball alum Connelly Early traded to the Washington Nationals
• UVA Baseball alum Connelly Early was on the game’s biggest stage
• ’23 alum Connelly Early strikes out 11 for Boston Red Sox in MLB debut
• UVA lefty Connelly Early on his improvement on the mound: ‘One pitch at a time’

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Butera told reporters that the organization is going to be “ultra cautious” with Early, who was 7-5 with a 3.44 ERA/1.26 WHIP in 17 starts with the Red Sox in 2026.

The plan going forward, per Butera, is to put a pause on the rehab process for Early, with an estimated ETA to return to the bigs pushed back to the final week of August.

Complicating things there: where the Nats will be in terms of the standings by the time he would be ready.

At this writing, Washington, after a 5-3 win over Cincinnati to open a three-game series in Nats Park on Friday night, is 57-61, and five games back of the cutoff line for the final NL wild-card spot, with eight teams in the mix at the moment for the three wild-card spots.

We’re roughly 20 games from when Early might be in the mix for a return, which would leave 24 games, thereabouts, to go in the regular season – leaving him, maybe, five opportunities to start.

If the Nats, who have lost eight of their last 10, have played their way out of the playoff race by that point, it would make sense to just shut Early down and look ahead to whatever there is of a 2027 season.