Danny Duffy placed on the Injured List with a flexor strain

The Royals announced today that pitcher Danny Duffy will be placed on the 10-day Injured List with a left forearm flexor strain. No corresponding move has yet been announced. Duffy last pitched on May 12 against the Tigers. He worked six innings, allowing four runs and throwing 100 pitches.

The flexor mass is a “collection of muscles and tendons that all come together in the forearm near the elbow” and is protective of the ulnar collateral ligament, which is the ligament that can be replaced in Tommy John surgery. A 2014 study showed that the median time missed by a player with a flexor strain was 42 days.

Danny Duffy has had a number of injuries over his career, and has never made as many as 30 starts in a season. His career innings pitched total is 179.2, a mark he reached in 2016. In 2017, he missed a month with an oblique injury, then missed time in August with a “low grade pronator strain” near his elbow. He suffered separate shoulder impingement and hamstring injuries in 2019. He underwent Tommy John surgery early in his career in 2012.

Duffy is in the last year of a five-year, $65 million contract. He was off to a fantastic start, with a 1.94 ERA in seven starts and 48 strikeouts in 41 ²⁄₃ innings.

Kris Bubic will replace Duffy in the rotation and will get the start on Tuesday against the Brewers. Brad Keller will follow him up on Wednesday, and the Royals are off on Thursday. Jakob Junis, Mike Minor, and Brady Singer would be likely candidates to start the weekend series against the Tigers.