Angels infielder Tommy La Stella has been diagnosed with a fractured tibia in his right leg, the team announced today. He’s expected to miss the next eight to ten weeks of action. The injury, sustained last night when fouling a ball into his shin, will cause La Stella to miss the All-Star Game. Meanwhile, outfielder Brian Goodwin, who exited last night’s game after being hit by a pitch, has been diagnosed with a contusion. Both have been placed on the 10-day injured list.
In a pair of corresponding roster moves, the Angels have selected the contracts of corner infield prospect Matt Thaiss (as had been previously reported) and former Giants outfielder Jarrett Parker. Additionally, right-hander Jaime Barria is up from Triple-A Salt Lake to start tonight’s game.
The loss of La Stella stings both for the team and for La Stella himself. A longtime reserve infielder who at one point was undecided as to whether he wanted to continue his career, La Stella has thrived in a near-regular role in 2019, hitting at a .300/.353/.495 clip in 312 plate appearances. La Stella’s 16 home runs are more than he had in his entire career (947 plate appearances) heading into the season, and his brilliant showing drew enough fan recognition to earn the 30-year-old a starting nod in the aforementioned All-Star Game.
From a team standpoint, it’s another disheartening setback in what has become one of the most difficult seasons in franchise history. The Angels were (and are) still reeling from the gut-wrenching death of left-hander Tyler Skaggs when La Stella had to be helped off the field. Watching La Stella suit up for the All-Star Game could’ve served as a brief respite from the unyielding grief felt in the Angels’ clubhouse, but La Stella himself will now be a spectator for the Midsummer Classic.
In his absence, the Halos will get their first look at Thaiss, a 2016 first-rounder who has begun to tap into his power since reaching Triple-A in 2018. Thaiss was a catcher at the time of his draft but widely expected to move to first base in pro ball. He’s done just that, for the most part, but Thaiss has played more third base (391 innings) than first base (191) in 2019. The Angels could potentially shift David Fletcher over to second base and continue the Thaiss experiment at the hot corner, thus adding a left-handed bat to help replace La Stella. In 372 plate appearances in Salt Lake, Thaiss was hitting .274/.390/.477 with 14 home runs.
As for Parker, the 30-year-old will return to the big leagues for the first time since 2017 with today’s promotion. He spent parts of the 2015-17 seasons in San Francisco, hitting a combined .257/.335/.456 with 15 homers in 382 plate appearances. Most of his production came early in his MLB tenure, though, and he mustered a lackluster .247/.294/.416 slash through a career-high 177 plate appearances in his final season on the MLB roster. So far in 2019, Parker has turned in a terrific .296/.424/.604 slash with 19 home runs in just 283 plate appearances. He’s fanned at a fairly high 27.2 percent clip but helped to offset those whiffs with a 17.3 percent walk rate.
Uh… how?
Try reading
You can type, but you can’t read?
The ability to type does not make you intelligent.
Speak to text would be my guess
Terrance long style foul ball off the leg. Only a few people will get that.
Imagine fouling a ball off your leg so hard that it breaks
No kidding. I was at the game last night, sitting fairly close to the field. It was a rocket shot right into his shin. He collapsed immediately, my first thought was – wow, he had to have broken a bone.
Mark Teixiera did that in 2015. It was not initially diagnosed properly and he tried to play on it. Went about as well as you would expect.
Sucks for Tommy. Dude put in work for years, joins the Angels and keeps killing it, then gets hurt before the ASG.
It was horrible. The guy was in horrible pain, had to be helped off the field. Unfortunately he was heading to his first All Star game, and was super excited about it. He’s been a great player for us this season. He’ll be missed on the field.
Eric Sogard could probably be had.
Can a Guy have more of an emotional week. Named to the all star team, teammate dies, broken leg. But it’s times like this that make you better and stronger so in the end he’s going to prevail
That team just can’t catch a break. Hate to hear it for tommy I really liked him when he was on the braves. Never would have expected him to hit the home runs like he has this year, but he did have a pretty swing even before the power surge
You can’t help rooting for LaStella. Hate to see this. Maybe his only chance at being an All Star.
He’s still an All Star. Just can’t play…..
Good point. Still sucks he won’t get the chance to play in the ASG.
After what happened Monday, I can’t get worked up about this.
It’s hard being an Angel fan.
This is the kind of crap u just don’t want to see no matter what team u root for.
Cover Trout in bubble wrap so nothing bad happens to him please. Seriously I hope things turn around for the Angels. This would be the year to get hot and go on a nice playoff run. That would make a great story.
Put a fence around him and Ohtani.
Angels in the playoffs….? LOLZZZ
So much for him being a candidate to be traded as posted in a previous article. Sorry for him in many ways.
Best of luck Jarrett Parker! You were a good Giant.
I can come to no other conclusion than this organization has been cursed. Ownership needs to seriously solicit the help of a shaman to reverse its fortunes.
Joe Maddon is all about trying to keep good vibes. Maybe they need him.
Yep.
I’m rooting for Tommy LaStella all the way and have been for years.
In a nutshell…. He is done for the year. This team will end up under .500 and is nowhere near playoff caliber.
Do you ever write anything remotely interesting?
I believe the Angels are having the worst week I’ve yet to witness.
So now Gleyber Torres can be on the team, like he should have to begin with.
Exactly, I concur.
I didn’t even know you could break your leg that way. That SUCKS.
Maybe GOD is very upset with Arte Moreno!!
Oh no! We miss him so much and were proud of him making the All Star game. He’ll just have to make it in again next year.