Nationals reliever Víctor Arano will require shoulder surgery later this month, the team informed reporters (including Andrew Golden of the Washington Post). The club didn’t provide specifics on a timetable, though it seems likely to cost him most or all of the season.
Arano hasn’t thrown a major league pitch since September 1, 2022. The Nats placed him on the injured list with a season-ending shoulder strain at that point. The shoulder has unfortunately continued to bother him in the months since then. He was shut down in Spring Training with an impingement and placed on the 60-day IL. He felt renewed soreness when he tried to ramp up last month.
The right-hander has been in a similar position before. He underwent an elbow procedure while a member of the Phillies in May 2019, costing him the remainder of that year. Arano wouldn’t reappear at the MLB level until last season, when he broke camp with the Nats after signing a minor league deal. He worked 42 innings of middle relief, posting a 4.50 ERA with a solid 23.5% strikeout rate and a stellar 51.6% grounder percentage.
Arano has been a productive reliever when healthy, carrying a 3.32 ERA in 116 2/3 big league frames. Injuries have kept him to two seasons topping the 40-inning mark. He’s making $925K this year after avoiding arbitration last winter. He remains controllable via that process through 2025 but the Nats could non-tender him if this indeed winds up going down as a lost season.