The news out of Viera on Sammy Solis is not good. The 23-year old lefty was shut down by the Washington Nationals and will be evaluated by orthopedist Lewis Yocum, with the likely outcome of the dreaded Tommy John surgery. Solis becomes the latest Nats high draft pick to fall victim to the procedure, following Jordan Zimmermann and Stephen Strasburg.
Solis was a second round draft pick in 2009 out of the University of San Diego. At the time, he was expected to be a quick riser to the big leagues, though his plateau was likely as a No. 3 or 4 starter. He didn’t possess a huge fastball, but threw strikes with four pitches and always had a “bulldog” mentality in college. He was rated by Baseball America as the organization’s sixth-best prospect in their latest evaluations.
His minor league resume has done nothing to dispel the initial scouting report. In 19 career professional starts (two in Hagerstown in ’10, 17 between there and Potomac in ’11), Solis is 8-3 with a 3.13 ERA and 1.242 WHIP, striking out 8.6 per nine innings while walking just 2.1 per nine. He also made seven starts in the Arizona Fall League, where he went 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 26 innings. But he also walked 16 batters, the first time in his career he’s struggled that badly throwing strikes.
In year’s past, this news would have been absolutely crippling. Honestly, in the not-so-distant past, Solis might have been rushed this season to compete for a job with the big club. While not projected to be a top-of-the-rotation stud such as Strasburg and Zimemrmann, Solis was viewed as a potential candidate to possibly be on the Nats radar later this season or in spring training next season. Now, he’s likely to miss all of this season and spend next season trying to recover from reconstructive ligament surgery.
The Nationals have a good bit of depth in the rotation for this season, with experienced pitchers such as Chien-Ming Wang, John Lannan and Ross Detwiler all battling for the fifth spot in the Nats opening day rotation. Solis was not going to compete there. But he could have figured into the team’s plan for 2012 and this will delay his development significantly.
This further thins out the Nats crop of pitching prospects in the wake of the trade that sent Brad Peacock, Tom Milone and A.J. Cole (along with catcher Derek Norris) to the Oakland A’s in the Gio Gonzalez deal over the winter.
