SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants will be without a key member of their rotation for the foreseeable future, as the club announced on Sunday that Anthony Descalfani will undergo surgery on his right ankle.
Declaffney, 32, has already lodged a stint on his 60-day injured list this season with a swelling in his right ankle. He returned for two tremendous starts and never fully recovered, so he would go under the knife.
The Giants did not immediately provide details of the process, but it is unlikely that Declaffney will pitch again this season. Dr. Robert Anderson, the same specialist Descalaphony who visited Green Bay, Wisconsin earlier this season, will perform the operation next Tuesday.
Manager Gabe Kapler said, “Anthony worked really hard after last season to come back to camp healthy and be the best version of himself.” “I appreciate the work ethic and how much he gave us. We know he’s going to put the same level of effort into this rehab process. The optimistic outlook is that he’s going to be back healthy as early as 2023.” .
In five starts this season, Descalafny had a 9.95 ERA when he gave the Giants 31 starts last season with 3.17 points. The Giants rewarded him with a three-year, $36 million contract—the longest deal he signed under President of Baseball Operations, Farhan Zaidi.
Swelling in his ankle first began late last year, but he entered spring training, optimistic the problem was in the past after a few months of rest. However, even after spending two months on the IL, Desklaphony was “hitting a wall” in its two starts since being active, Kapler said. He completed five innings in just one of his starts and has not progressed past third in any of the starts since coming out of IL at the end of last month.
Without DeSclafani, the Giants have only four healthy starters on their roster.
“We’ll do our best under the conditions,” Kapler said, noting that Jacob Junis (hamstring strain) “is not very far away.”
Junis, a free-agent pick-up who previously filled in for Desklaphony with seven starts and an ERA of 2.63, has been out since June 10 with a grade 2 hamstring strain. He’s recently thrown two bullpen on Friday, and Kapler said the Giants are taking it with them “day by day,” though a rehab assignment could be in the cards soon.
Due to Descalafny’s rotation spot for the first time on Sunday, the Giants began to relieve John Brebia in opener capacity and recalled 25-year-old starter Sean Hazel to enter the innings behind him.
