Stanford baseball’s sophomore ace Cal Quantrill will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the remainder of the 2015 season.
Quantrill had not pitched since Feb. 27 at Rice, as he was skipped over in the Texas series after head coach Mark Marquess said he was “sick and sore.”
The Cardinal rotation — which looked to be one of the strengths of an otherwise inexperienced roster entering this season — has now lost two of its returning starting pitchers. Junior starter Marcus Brakeman (shoulder) has also not pitched since Feb. 28 against Rice and is expected to be out long-term.
Quantrill began his Stanford career as the first freshman pitcher to start opening day for the Cardinal since Mike Mussina did it back in 1988. In 2014, he went 7-5 with a 2.68 ERA in 18 games, leading the team in innings (110.2) as well as strikeouts (98). He was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and named a Freshman All-American by Louisville Slugger and Perfect Game for his accolades.
This season, Quantrill picked up where he left off in his freshman year, going 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA (4 ER/18.2 IP) over his first three starts. He received a no-decision after holding Indiana to one run over 5.2 innings on Opening Day, then picked up a win at Cal State Fullerton after tossing six scoreless innings, and also earned a win in Houston against Rice after allowing three runs on seven innings.
After its two-week finals break, Stanford resumes play with the start of the Pac-12 season on Friday. The Cardinal welcome Arizona to Sunken Diamond for a three-game set, now with their starting rotation completely in flux.
Sportsnet’s Jeff Blair first reported the Quantrill injury.
Contact Jordan Wallach at jwallach ‘at’ stanford.edu.