TCU starter Traver could miss two weeks, Schlossnagle says

Right-hander Mitchell Traver could miss two weeks as TCU evaluates what caused him to cut short his Tuesday start against Rice after three batters.

Coach Jim Schlossnagle said Traver reported a “pull” in his back in the area where he suffered a muscle strain last year that caused him to miss the first two months of last season.

“He said he just felt a little pull back there in his lat, where he had that injury last year,” Schlossnagle said. “They’re hoping maybe it’s just a scar tissue thing. They’re hoping maybe it’s just two weeks, something like that.”

Traver threw 16 pitches, giving up a single and getting a strikeout and a fly out before he called the trainer to the mound. Six relievers finished the Horned Frogs’ 13-5 victory, starting with winner Jake Eissler, who pitched 2  1/3 innings.

Schlossnagle said Traver was throwing well.

“He had his best bullpen this week that he’s had since he came back from an injury. He had his best pregame bullpen, his warmup pitches were as good as they’ve been, his first however many pitches of the game, his velocity was up, breaking ball was outstanding,” Schlossnagle said. “And then he called us out there. I’m glad he said something. He said, ‘I could throw a couple more pitches.’ We said, let’s take it from here.”

Traver, a fifth-year senior from Houston, is TCU’s most experienced pitcher with 107 innings pitched entering this year and a 3-2 record in eight postseason appearances. He pitched three innings in a start last week at UT Arlington.

“He’s going to bounce back. He’s very resilient,” catcher Evan Skoug said. “This isn’t new for him. Better to happen now than later in the season. It’s really good that the coaches took it cautiously. We didn’t want him to go back out there and do something worse. And then it was really awesome to see all those guys come in and step up for him.”

This story was originally published March 1, 2017 at 10:08 AM with the headline "TCU starter Traver could miss two weeks, Schlossnagle says."