Josh Beckett to See Specialist, Career in Jeopardy?

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Josh Beckett will meet with a nerve specialist on Monday following nearly a month long battle with numbness in the fingertips of his pitching hand.

Beckett was placed on the DL on May 14 and was less than impressive in his eight starts for the Dodgers. Beckett posted an 0-5 record and 5.19 ERA in 43.1 innings of work.

“The frustrating thing that I’m having right now is I don’t have pain,” Beckett said. “I’m dealing with ineffectiveness and numbness, and I can’t actually feel the baseball.”

Not knowing the issue at hand and the extent of such is concerning for the Dodgers starter, who is concerned if his hand numbness will pose a threat to his career.

“Any time something like that happens to your arm or you start losing feeling and stuff … you think about it for sure,” Beckett said. “I don’t really want to think like that right now. I want to think about figuring out a way to deal with this.”

Beckett was solid for the Dodgers in seven starts in 2012, following a huge trade that saw Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez, and Carl Crawford relocate from Boston to Los Angeles. In those seven starts, Beckett posted a 2-3 record and 2.93 ERA in 43.0 innings of work.