Rockies left-hander Austin Gomber left Saturday night’s start after two innings due to left forearm tightness, the team announced. The removal was made “for precautionary reasons,” specifically. Gomber stayed in the game long enough to make a plate appearance in the bottom of the second inning, dropping down a sacrifice bunt. (MLB.com’s Thomas Harding noted that Jhoulys Chacin was already warming up in Colorado’s bullpen before Gomber’s at-bat, so it doesn’t appear as though the injury occurred while Gomber was at the plate.)
Injuries have already led to one big setback in Gomber’s career, as he missed the entire 2019 season due to shoulder and biceps problems. A forearm issue is naturally of major concern, and it could be that the Rockies were simply acting as quickly as possible in removing Gomber at the first hint of trouble.
Gomber, 27, carried an outsized spotlight entering the season, as he was the only player with MLB experience amongst the four-player package the Rockies received from the Cardinals in the Nolan Arenado trade. Colorado fans were notably displeased about pretty much every facet of that deal, although Gomber’s recent numbers have provided a silver lining. After a slow start to the season, Gomber had caught fire, posting a 1.28 ERA over his last seven starts and 42 1/3 innings heading into Saturday night’s outing against the Brewers.
Gomber is under team control through the 2025 season, giving the Rockies either a rotation building block or potentially even a future trade chip (i.e. not at this year’s trade deadline) depending on whether or not the Colorado embarks on a wide-scale rebuild. A serious forearm injury, of course, would interrupt either of those scenarios.
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