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The Atlanta Braves have shut down left-handed reliever Jonny Venters for at least four weeks after he received a platelet-rich plasma injection from Dr. James Andrews this morning, according to Mark Bowman of MLB.com.
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After he's shelved for four weeks, Venters would then begin a throwing program, assuming his elbow passes examination. For this reason, he's likely at least six weeks away from returning to a mound, and the southpaw could be on the disabled list until June.
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While this hardly qualifies as good news, it hasn't yet been determined that Venters requires a significant operation which would shut him down for the entire season. He'll be evaluated after his four weeks of rest to see how his elbow responds to the injection.
After being a shut down reliever over his first two years in the majors, Venters struggled in 2012. The 28-year-old maintained an ERA of 3.22 with a strikeout to walk ratio (SO/BB) of 2.46 over 66 appearances spanning 58 2/3 innings. He owns a career ERA of 2.23 with 2.35 SO/BB.
