OC Register: Matt Shoemaker’s progress toward return to Angels’ rotation has stalled

[AngelsWin.com]

ANAHEIM — Matt Shoemaker’s rehab from a forearm strain is “stuck in neutral right now,” Manager Mike Scioscia said on Thursday.

Shoemaker threw in the bullpen twice over the weekend, but he was since shut down. Shoemaker conceded that his progress has been “slow.” He said he’s now waiting for the medical staff to decide what to do next, suggesting that he would have “much more information” on Friday.

“There is still some more stuff to do,” Shoemaker said. “I’m kind of waiting to get some information on the progression and exactly what we’re doing.”

Scioscia indicated that further tests could be warranted to determine why his rehab had stalled.

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Last year Shoemaker went on the disabled list in June with forearm tightness, and his rehab progressed normally all the way until he pitched in a minor league game in July. After increasing his intensity to game speed, though, he had a setback, and he ended up having surgery to have the radial nerve released.

After this injury, Shoemaker had undergone tests that showed no structural damage, and the initial nerve tests also came back clean.

He had been throwing for a couple weeks before the recent setback.

“Nobody is working harder than Shoe,” Scioscia said. “I know its a very frustrating process. We’ll just let our medical staff evaluate it and see what the next step should be.”

Even without Shoemaker, the rotation has stabilized with the improvement of Andrew Heaney, the emergence of Jaime Barría and the mostly strong work all season from Garrett Richards, Tyler Skaggs and Shohei Ohtani. Nick Tropeano is expected to come off the disabled list on Saturday.

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