Zebby Matthews Has Grade 2 Subscapularis Strain: How Long Will Minnesota Twins Be Without Young Hurler?

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

Image courtesy of © Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Twins lost another starting pitcher for the foreseeable future when they placed Zebby Matthews on the 15-day IL with what was initially reported as a "shoulder strain." The Twins provided more details on Tuesday evening, revealing that the righty suffered a moderate strain of his subscapularis and that he will be shut down from throwing for two weeks.

The subscapularis is one of the four rotator cuff muscles, and it's located on the front side of the scapula, or shoulder blade, situated between the scapula and rib cage. Its purpose is to forcefully internally rotate the humerus, or arm bone. In layman's terms, it is one of the muscles that generates significant power, allowing for throwers to achieve a high velocity. It functions similarly to the teres major, the muscle that recently landed fellow starter Pablo Lopez on the IL. However, the teres major is arguably a more complex muscle, as it performs two actions, shoulder internal rotation and extension, which generally extends the return-to-play timeline slightly.

Regardless, it would not surprise me if Matthews ultimately misses a similar amount of time as Lopez. A moderate strain, also sometimes called a Grade 2 strain, is generally a weeks-to-months injury, and the Twins will undoubtedly want Matthews to go on a rehab assignment following his recovery. The location of the strain will be one of the primary drivers of his timeline. Torn tendon fibers generally take longer to recover from than torn muscle fibers, because of their relative lack of blood flow. 

According to Baseball Prospectus's Injury Ledger, the average time to return from a subscapularis strain is 103 days, although it's very rare that these injuries are logged with enough detail to be sure; the sample is too small.

Luckily, Grade 2 strains don't require surgery, though a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection or equivalent may be utilized to theoretically aid the healing process. There have been a huge number of shoulder strains (the initial and official category under which Matthews's injury will be logged) from which pitchers returned within a month or so, but with this one being Grade 2, the expectation should be that he's on the shelf until at least the end of July.

Like López, if all goes well, Matthews should be able to return to the Twins rotation before the end of the regular season. In the meantime, Minnesota will have to rely on its Triple-A depth and bullpen. While the news could be worse and Matthews does appear to have dodged the need for surgery, this is going to be a longer absence than the team initially seemed inclined to say.

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[Patzky]

Knowing's half the battle.

I don't know what the other half is.

[IndianaTwin]

4 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Knowing's half the battle.

I don't know what the other half is.

Yogi said that 90 percent of the game is half mental, so that figures in somewhere as well. 

[Patzky]

9 minutes ago, IndianaTwin said:

Yogi said that 90 percent of the game is half mental, so that figures in somewhere as well. 

0.9 x 0.5= ehh it's probably 47 so it's  the Julien calendar 🗓️ 

[CRF]

Never expected to say this...at least not this season...but losing Zebby in the rotation really hurts this team. 

[SF Twins Fan]

[killebrewlover]

No surprise with any of this.  MLB players start out at a younger and younger age throwing harder and harder.  In middle and high school, it becomes a bragging rights competition to see who can throw closest to 100 mph on the radar gun.  Testosterone kicks in.  It's understandable.  But it's the reason hardly any MLB pitcher throws a complete game anymore.   Get used to it.  It's going to get worse over time.

[Linus]

As always, thanks for these articles. I always learn something and it’s interesting to understand the actual injury. 

[Mark G]

23 minutes ago, killebrewlover said:

No surprise with any of this.  MLB players start out at a younger and younger age throwing harder and harder.  In middle and high school, it becomes a bragging rights competition to see who can throw closest to 100 mph on the radar gun.  Testosterone kicks in.  It's understandable.  But it's the reason hardly any MLB pitcher throws a complete game anymore.   Get used to it.  It's going to get worse over time.

I wish I could argue with you.  I want to argue with you.  I need to argue with you.  But I can't argue with you.  

It should never have gotten to this point.  On a macro level, pitching has become what you said.  On a micro level, it doesn't have to be this way.  Pitching is like real estate: location, location, location.  Pitch to a spot and you can have success.  Throw 100 mph in a bad spot and it doesn't matter, but your arm sure feels it.  Learn to change speeds well, learn how to adjust mid game, and location.  Radke had a pretty good career.  Glavin and Maddox are in the Hall.  Learn how to pitch; anyone can throw.

Oh well, I know I am spitting into the wind.  You are right; this is the current state.  It is what it is, and we have to live with it, but I don't have to like it.  🤔

[mnfireman]

So, probably lost for at least 100 days.

Going back to his last game (6-4-25), that puts his return somewhere around September 12. He may be able to return to help out of the BP, if the team is able to stay in contention.

Time to start packaging players/prospects for SP help.

[Linus]

Lucas - can tendons and ligaments be strengthened?  I seem to recall they can’t be unlike muscles. 

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

3 minutes ago, Linus said:

Lucas - can tendons and ligaments be strengthened?  I seem to recall they can’t be unlike muscles. 

Tendons can for sure and the jury is still out on ligaments, but the general consensus is that they cannot. The reason is because tendons are connected to muscles and the cells that make up tendons are responsive to tension. So just like muscles, they can increase in strength with things like weightlifting. Ligaments are inherently non-contractile and therefore don't respond to force like tendons and muscle. That's part of the reason why we think the best predictor of future, say, ankle sprains is past ankle sprains because the tissue stretches but doesn't strengthen as a result.

[Linus]

2 minutes ago, Lucas Seehafer PT said:

Tendons can for sure and the jury is still out on ligaments, but the general consensus is that they cannot. The reason is because tendons are connected to muscles and the cells that make up tendons are responsive to tension. So just like muscles, they can increase in strength with things like weightlifting. Ligaments are inherently non-contractile and therefore don't respond to force like tendons and muscle. That's part of the reason why we think the best predictor of future, say, ankle sprains is past ankle sprains because the tissue stretches but doesn't strengthen as a result.

That makes sense. So interesting!  Thanks for writing these articles. 

[mikelink45]

As someone dealing with a wrist sprain that seems to get worse instead of better as I wait for it to heal I understand how much time these things take.  Especially in joints that get lots of movement even when we don't think we are moving them.  This is sad - Festa and SWR have hopefully gotten their one allowed horrible game out of the way and settle down or Lopez and Mathews coming back at the end of the season won't matter.  

And I need to add that Ober better get back to what we expect of him.  

[jmlease1]

I really like these articles and hate always seeming to need another one being written.

[Patzky]

2 hours ago, Linus said:

As always, thanks for these articles. I always learn something and it’s interesting to understand the actual injury. 

I've had a shoulder twinge for a few months now.. not pain all the time but when I raise my left arm above ear level or reach behind me. Thought I had what Pablo got when I read his symptoms.. but it's probably just minor league or web page fan base stuff meh..

 

 

[Western SD Fan]

Another thing to consider is that many of the current players and many players in our youth programs are concentrating on one sport instead of playing multiple sports.  Each sport uses different parts of the body.  As a reminder, I believe Mauer played 4 sports and had a full ride scholarship to Florida State and Bobby Bowden to be his QB before being drafted by the Twins.  I'm sure we all agree Mauer made the right choice.  My point is that the different parts of the body that were really taxing on Mauer playing baseball weren't used as heavily in the other sports he participated in while he was still able to stay in game shape by his other sport participation.  I see the effects of this even as low as HS sports in very rural communities.  Even in these rural communities, many HS students have access to travel teams, sports therapy programs, camps, etc. so these muscles, ligaments, joints, etc. are never truly rested to the point they can recover, and IMO leads to injuries at a higher rate and continue to get younger.