Seranthony Dominguez suffers setback, per report

The Philadelphia Phillies missed their best reliever for four months last season. And now, it looks like they could be without him to start the 2020 season.

According to NBC Sports Philadelphia‘s Jim Salisbury, Phillies reliever Seranthony Dominguez suffered a setback on his UCL injury in his outing on Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Dominguez suffered the injury in an outing against the San Diego Padres early last June. While it was initially expected that he would require Tommy John surgery, he was able to avoid it and began throwing again late last August.

While he was unable to return during last season, it was expected he would be ready to pitch to start the 2020 season. This setback places that status in doubt, and is a huge hit to the Phillies bullpen.

Dominguez was a revelation in 2018, starting the season in Reading before dominating his way to the majors by early May. In 53 games during his rookie season, Dominguez finished with a 2.95 ERA behind a dominant cutter/slider combo.

He was not as effective during his 2019 campaign, recording a 4.01 ERA in 27 games, but his injury was still a huge blow to a bullpen that lost several key pieces early in the season.

Salisbury mentions that it will be interesting to see how the bullpen shakes out from here following the injury. The Phillies have a mixture of non-roster veterans and unproven minor league pitchers competing for spots on the 26-man roster, and have some difficult decisions coming as the season begins two weeks from Thursday.

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