Nathan out 6-8 weeks with hamstring injury

RENTON — Because hardly a week can go by without some negative Seattle Sounders injury news, head coach Brian Schmetzer revealed on Thursday that Nathan suffered a muscle injury that will likely keep him out 6-8 weeks.

The centerback, who had just solidified his spot as the top backup following the trade of Xavier Arreaga, suffered the injury just before the team left for their recent road trip.

“He had his MRI and he did his upper hamstring pretty bad,” Schmetzer said.

Against D.C. United, Jon Bell ended up starting in Nathan’s place and played reasonably well. He seems to be the short-term option going forward if the Sounders need to call on backups again.

It was recently revealed that 17-year-old centerback Stuart Hawkins is on a season-long loan to the Tacoma Defiance, but he would still be eligible for short-term loans for things like the U.S. Open Cup or injury hardships. Nouhou, Cody Baker and Josh Atencio have also played some centerback, but usually only in situations where the Sounders have played with five at the back.

Some good news

Reed Baker-Whiting is set to resume full training on Friday and could potentially be available as soon as Sunday’s match against the LA Galaxy. Baker-Whiting has not yet played this season. He first suffered his hamstring injury in the regular-season finale against St. Louis City last year. He returned in time to make an appearance against LAFC in the Western Conference semifinals, but he re-injured himself almost immediately after taking the pitch.

Schmetzer also said that Pedro de la Vega appears to be recovering faster than was reasonably expected and might even be able to do some training with teammates this week. It was about two weeks ago that Schmetzer estimated de la Vega would be out at least another four weeks.