Angels rookie Ben Joyce listed with ulnar neuritis as team awaits MRI results

Angels rookie fireballer Ben Joyce was put on the 15-day injured list ahead of Saturday’s game against the Seattle Mariners.

The right-handed reliever, who was removed from Friday’s game after facing just one batter, was listed with ulnar neuritis in the Angels’ transaction report. Joyce was scheduled for an MRI on Saturday, the results of which have not yet been revealed.

“He’s sore, as expected, probably a little down, but wait on the results before we start talking about anything,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said before the game.

On one pitch in the middle of Joyce’s brief outing Friday, Joyce said that he began to feel tingling and numbness in his hand and forearm. Pitching coach Matt Wise chatted with Joyce on the mound after he walked that one batter, and that’s when Joyce relayed what he was feeling.

“Just kind of told them that and they called the trainer out,” Joyce said after Friday’s game.

Joyce said the last time he had some kind of tingling sensation in his hand, he ended up needing Tommy John surgery in 2020. He said he couldn’t tell exactly whether this feeling was like the previous one.

“I’m not gonna jump to any conclusions or anything,” Joyce said.

Ulnar neuritis refers to inflammation of the ulnar nerve, explained Alan Beyer, executive medical director at the Hoag Orthopedic Institute and an orthopedic surgeon. Beyer is not Joyce’s physician and spoke to the Los Angeles Times as an expert on the type of injury.

Angels pitcher Ben Joyce speaks to teammates as Angels manager Phil Nevin, left, arrives to the mound during the fourth inning of a 5-4 win over the Seattle Mariners on Friday.

(Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)

Those with ulnar neuritis typically feel symptoms in the fourth and fifth finger, which are the fingers that the ulnar nerve goes to, Beyer said. But ulnar neuritis does not mean that Joyce’s full diagnosis could be severe enough to shut him down for a significant time.

“The ulnar nerve travels right next to where the ulnar collateral ligament is, the ligament that’s injured when people need Tommy John surgery,” Beyer said. “It’s not necessarily a precursor to that person needing Tommy John surgery.”

Ulnar neuritis also can crop up in those that have had Tommy John surgery. If an MRI doesn’t show soft tissue signs of injury and reveals just inflammation, Beyer said, then the typical treatment would be shutting down a player from throwing for one or two weeks and then gauging the player day-by-day to see how they respond to more conservative therapy methods.

Joyce was called up May 28, with veteran reliever Matt Moore going on the IL with a Grade 2 oblique strain. Moore started throwing again on the field before Saturday’s game.

Joyce, who the Angels picked at No. 89 overall in last year’s draft, had seen success in the brief time up so far.

In four outings (four innings pitched) before Friday, Joyce had given up two earned runs on four hits, walked three and struck out five. Joyce gave up those two earned runs in just one of his outings, in Houston on June 3, but he still completed the inning.

Angels moves

Needing another reliever with Joyce going on the IL, the Angels selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Gerardo Reyes. Reyes has been pitching with the team’s triple-A affiliate in Salt Lake City .

The Angels also have Andrew Wantz and Jimmy Herget among their reliever options at triple A, but decided on Reyes.

“He’s throwing hard, throwing a lot of strikes, landing the slider in the zone,” Nevin said of Reyes’ progress. “Always had a big arm, but this has been the most consistent strikes he’s thrown in a long time.

“So he’s throwing the best of all the guys down there.”

Also on the Angels’ transaction report: Hunter Renfroe returned from the paternity list. Jo Adell was optioned back to triple A. Max Stassi was transferred to the 60-day IL.