Gavin Floyd diagnosed with fractured elbow, likely done for season

Gavin Floyd left tonight’s start against the Washington Nationals, in which he was pitching stellar baseball, a bit earlier than he would have liked. After throwing a first pitch strike to Jayson Werth, Floyd looked uncomfortable on the mound, and the Braves’ training staff and Fredi Gonzalez came to talk and see what was wrong, and he eventually left the game. And, as it turns out, here is the reason why:

The Braves have made it official that it’s a fractured elbow (a “fracture of the olecranon,” to be exact) and he is likely done for the season. Floyd was a big off-season acquisition for Atlanta from the Chicago White Sox, especially in the light of Brandon Beachy and Kris Medlen going down with Tommy John surgery, and has gone 1-2 with a 2.98 ERA in his first season with the Braves. CBSSports.com noted that Joel Zumaya of the Detroit Tigers broke the same bone several years ago, and missed the remainder of his season as well. In his post game comments, Floyd said he felt no pain, but knew something wasn’t right.

"It was fine until that last pitch. I felt a pop. It wasn’t painful. But I just asked them to come out."

If there’s any good news to take from this, it means that Alex Wood is likely back in the rotation (which, we will find out officially tomorrow, as that’s when the Braves will make a roster move), but is a major bummer for Floyd, who didn’t pitch consistently well, but in games like tonight showed how effective and good he can be. While the news certainly doesn’t appear good, nothing is official as of yet, and Floyd is flying back to meet with Braves doctors in the morning.