The diagnosis is in on Mendez’s left elbow. What did the MRI exam reveal?

The worst was feared Sunday afternoon as Yohander Mendez left the mound with elbow tightness, but the Texas Rangers feel like they must have captured some St. Patrick’s Day luck.

Mendez has only a mild strain of his left elbow and will not need season-ending Tommy John surgery. The Rangers don’t expect him to be available to pitch for them until after the second half of the season, but that rated as good news Monday afternoon.

“I know he’s going to miss a lot of time, but after it happened, everybody felt the worst,” manager Chris Woodward said. “For him to be down only six weeks and then we’re going to build him back up, we dodged a bullet. We dodged a major bullet.”

Mendez underwent an MRI exam that showed a Grade 1 strain. He won’t throw until May 1 and then will start from scratch on a throwing program that could have him in games by the end of June.

He said that he was scared as he left the game, and he was still feeling tightness Monday afternoon. He was also optimistic that he wasn’t a serious injury.

Woodward said that the Rangers’ rotation depth has been preserved enough that they won’t be forced to carry Jason Hammel on the Opening Day roster. He remains a candidate to make the team as a reliever, but the veteran said last week that he has no intentions of accepting an assignment to Triple A Nashville.

The Rangers are likely to have right-handers Adrian Sampson and Ariel Jurado in the Nashville rotation along with prospect Taylor Hearn, a lefty who is on the 40-man roster. The Rangers also have two prospects at Double A Frisco who are on the 40-man, lefty Joe Palumbo and righty Jonathan Hernandez.

The Rangers were hoping to stay away from them early in the season, but now might not have that luxury.

“If push comes to shove we might have to use somebody we don’t want to put in that situation just yet,” Woodward said. “But we still have options.”

This story was originally published March 18, 2019 at 6:33 PM.