Nationals' Cade Cavalli: Rehab assignment on pause

Cavalli (elbow/illness) had been scheduled to report this week to the Nationals' spring training facility in West Palm Beach, Fla. to continue his rehab program, MLB.com repoorts.

On the mend from Tommy John surgery, Cavalli began his second rehab assignment June 21 with High-A Wilmington, but he hasn't pitched since then after coming down with the flu. Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com reported July 3 that Cavalli's rehab assignment had been shut down, but the Nationals haven't provided any word that the right-hander is dealing with a setback with his elbow. Since it has been almost four weeks since Cavalli last pitched, he will need to time to get stretched back out whenever he's cleared to resume his rehab assignment, so a return from the 60-day injured list doesn't seem imminent. He turned in a 2.16 ERA, 0.72 WHIP and 13 strikeouts in 8.1 innings across his first three rehab appearances.