JUNE 30: Manager Joe Girardi told reporters after the game that Fowler’s injury comes with a recovery time of at least six months (via Hoch).
JUNE 29: In terrible news for the Yankees and one of their most promising young talents, the team announced that outfielder Dustin Fowler suffered an open rupture of the patella tendon in his right knee and will undergo surgery tonight in Chicago (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch).
Fowler, 22, sustained the injury when running full-speed into the right-field retaining wall in an effort to catch a foul ball off the bat of Jose Abreu in the bottom of the first inning (video available at MLB.com). He was carted off the field shortly thereafter.
Yankees fans have been waiting for months to get a look at Fowler following a terrific start to his season in Triple-A. Through 313 Triple-A plate appearances, Fowler hit .293/.329/.542 with 13 homers and 13 stolen bases. Unfortunately, tonight’s injury occurred before Fowler was even able to take his first big league plate appearance.
Eschewing the baseball perspective and viewing the injury through a human element lens, the injury is a terribly saddening occurrence for a 22-year-old that was merely minutes into realizing a lifelong dream. Hopefully, Fowler proves able to make a full recovery and rejoins the Yankees as a part of their future down the road.
From a strictly on-field perspective, New York has the outfield depth to weather the injury, though they’ll be short-handed for awhile with Aaron Hicks on the shelf for upwards of four weeks and Fowler down for the remainder of the season. The Yankees do have another of baseball’s top outfield prospects, Clint Frazier, not far off from Major League readiness in Triple-A, though it’s not clear when he’ll emerge as a candidate for a promotion of his own.
Gutted. What awful timing.
Get well soon.
I’m a diehard Orioles fan but very sad for him. Wishing him a speedy — and thorough — recovery.
Dang that sucks. I’m a Jays fan but wish you the best bro
Why does it matter what team you support? I hate when people do this cr@p. You’re a fan of baseball and I hope you never want any players to get hurt. Being a Jays fan means nothing.
And the rest of us hate when people lash out at someone who is just trying to express support and sympathy. Sorry it didn’t meet your standards.
haha
Exactly
Triggered much?
Yikes.
Someone needs a cookie
I’d rather ice cream…..
I was just saying from one franchise to another hope the player gets better. No need to get snippy
I am referring to gramuna of course
I understand what you were doing…but it’s pointless. It carries no more weight that you’re a Jays fan than a Yankees fan or a Sox fan or any other team’s fan
Seems like an overreaction
In what way? Do you consider his comment more meaningful since he’s a jays fan?
Your reaction is absurd.
wow you’re a tool. better check with the morality police next time you comment guys. go take your meds
Thanks Brother, Respect!!! And disregard the haters.
That really sucks. Having Adam Greenberg flashback, granted his was a more severe case and he got one more Major League at bat afterwards.
Fowler, nor Greenberg had an official at bat in their MLB debut. I hope he has a full recovery.
Actually, Marlins signed him to a contract which granted him one at bat. 3 pitch strikeout. 2011 or 2012
2012
He never had an official at bat in his MLB debut, hence that campaign to get him one at bat. He had a plate appearance in his debut.
link to baseball-reference.com
Unless Baseball Reference is lying, it says he had an at bat for the Marlins in 2012
Yes and Greenbergs at bat was years later. Reminds me also of the movie field of dreams where the doctor had one inning in the field. Never got to bat and it was the last game of the season and he retired after and went to medical school. Never got to bat
Moonlight Graham
Feel back for Fowler & Yankee fans. The fans had all the young guys ready to bust out but the team has been bitten by that injury bug hard lately
You know the world is devoid of Testosterone and competitive fire when someone expresses sorrow for Yankees fans.
Kid got hurt. It’s sports.
Let’s move on from the pity party.
The yankees destroyed my childhood… But making it to the bigs and not getting to swing is like winning a 200million lotto ticket and having that big check ripped up right in front of you. Condolences, but hill you want testosterone and fire talk that garbage at a yanks game.
Yup
hill calm down. Imagine being so close to a dream only for that to be ripped from your hands like that. Your immaturity and sheer rudeness shocks me
Ok.
“Feel bad for Yankees fans” is beau’s quote.
For the FANS?!
Shall we feel bad for all Chicago Bulls fans cuz Derrick Rose tore his ACL.
Let’s feel bad for Raiders fans for Derek Carr.
Let’s feel bad for Bucks fans for Jabari Parker.
Let’s feel bad for Patriots fans for Tom Brady – he tore an ACL and missed a year.
Let’s feel bad for ok how many Tommy John surgeries should we list so that we feel bad for all those fans of those teams.
Let’s all just feel bad for every fan of every team to make sure we don’t leave any body out.
Fact – I shredded my knee 3 times. I don’t think the fans of my college team needed their feelings massaged and validated because THEYRE FANS.
Empathise with the kid who got hurt.
It’s a cruel irony but he’ll be fine in a few months and nobody will remember.
Oh but please don’t let me stop you from feeling bad for Yankees fans because you will then make sure others will feel bad for you when a player you like gets hurt and yay let’s hug.
the way you are acting you probably flipped the fans off for applauding as you were helped off the field
Maybe his fellow cheerleaders felt bad for him!
Damn man, this is a really odd crusade you’ve gone on here. Kid’s career could be over on first play. Look up patellar tendon rupture. Your college bruises are absolutely meritless in comparison to both this injury and circumstance. But, yes, pick up on an odd line about Yankee fan empathy and go on a rant with a tenuous grasp on logic and reason. Fits the mold of how these things play out here.
Someone clearly woke up on the wrong side of the bed
Hill you must not really be a baseball fan to say that
This feels like Moonlight Graham.
Especially after several scouts were saying before the game that they think he’s better than Frazier
Man. Was hoping they would call this game too. Very first inning and this had to happen. Really sucks. Get well kid.
Moonlight Graham anyone?
From a quick Google search, this looks really bad, although I cannot say definitively. But it seems as though this is a similar injury to what Victor Cruz and Jimmy Graham suffered, meaning his future status is incredibly foggy. I hope It’s not the same, but this is incredibly sad. Hope he gets well, and rakes when he comes back.
That really sucks
Definitely not a yankee fan, but I hate to see a young talent get injured so early in their career. I only have good wishes for him.
Ben Diamond came out with a list of players since 2008 who had the same injury – Steve Pearce, Carlos Gonzalez, Garrett Richards, Logan Morrison and Scott Shields.
Gonzalez who as we know is an OFer, suffered it in August 2014 and came back next spring training. Hopping the same can happen to Fowler.
That’s much better than the initial information I was able to find. Hopefully, he’s back next year, and better than ever. Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the hope MB923! I’m glad there’s precedent of MLB players that came back after suffering this injury.
He’ll be back. He has a reputation as a very hard worker and a good kid, they will make sure he gets his AB.
Heartbreaking. Hope he makes it back
Type of injury that ends careers.. Jesus
Please be Jimmy Graham not Victor Cruz (two players who suffered the same injury)
1st game, 1st inning too? Next inning would have been his 1st MLB AB too?
I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. Good Luck Dustin
Cruz’s injury was October 2014. He returned to camp in the summer but aggravated his calf. He was out about 8 months after the ruptured tendon.
A lot of people say he was never the same after. Giants let him go 3 years after. Cruz was older, so the obstacle (pattellar tendon rupture) was bigger to overcome. He was never the same player afterwords, At 30 years old, he’s on a different team, not guaranteed to make the team. If he didn’t suffer that injury, I say none of this happens..
That is awful. Worked so hard to be one of the few who make it, then has to face this immense obstacle. Good luck to him. Long road ahead.
You could definitely tell that it was something serious right after it happened. He was going full speed when he crashed into the half-wall. He got back up like it wasn’t too bad, but right when he tried to put pressure on it, he went down. Wish him the best.
Down goes Fowler! Up commmes Frazieeerr!!
TROLL!!!
That was one hard collision…looked really bad as he couldn’t put any weight on it. I hate the Yanks but I wish this kid a speedy recovery. Hope to see him back in the bigs with another chance to enjoy the fruition of that dream.
What an unfortunate situation – awful timing for a talented young player living his dream until that awful collision.
What broke my heart was his inability to process what happened, that he tried to gather his bearings and walk on it as if nothing had happened. It’s then I remember that he’s only 22 and may not have previously experienced a really bad setback. I think he was in mental shock or emotional disconnect not even displaying pain once he went down..
I hate the yankees more than words can describe .. I hate this more. I hope he makes a speedy recovery and then gets back on track to a mlb career. Get well soon
Is this what they mean in theater when they say, “break a leg” for luck….? Get well soon!
Dang, that is one way to make an everlasting debut
Wow
That sucks though
Hope he is better sooner than later, positive vibes from a Red Sox fan
What is a realistic recovery time for an OF with this injury? I know football players have suffered it before, but the timetables might be different for the different sports. I know football players are quicker to recover from ACL injuries quicker than basketball players for example.
My next-door neighbor is a college softball player, she tore hers and had a piece of her patella stuck in the tendon, she was redshirted although it will be close to 18 months before she takes the field again
Pretty sure it’ll be about 6-8 months. And with an ACL, it’s all about how committed you are to rehab and doing the right thing for it. Timetables aren’t different for different sports. Its the same injury either way
Timetables are very different for different sports. Timetables are even different for different positions in the same sport. Position players take a lot less time to recover from Tommy John surgery than pitchers. You use different muscles in different ways to do different things.
9-12 months is the usual time table. He has a long road ahead of himself.
6 month recovery from ACL would be other worldly…
Just heard a doctor on WFAN he said that Dustin will be out a least 6 months, same injury as Victoe Cruz. It could take over a year for him to come back 100%
Didn’t even get at bat
In all honesty this is the one guy that I thought would make it… I think a little north of Gardner numbers across the board!
Hope his wheels come all the way back!
Frazier has 190k a season written all over him.
The Curse of Aroldis Chapman!!!!!!
Let’s look on the bright side. His injury means that he cannot be traded. His uncertain future means that Clint Frazier cannot be traded. The Yankees will preserve their outfield of the future and not trade away youth for a quick fix.
What I really liked about Dustin is he was a grinder, he wasn’t a high draft choice but he was always outperforming people and movig up. If anyone can come back from this its him. God Bless and we are all hoping to see you in the majors as soon as possible.
Goodnight sweet prince.