Dodgers infielder Edwin Rios will undergo season-ending surgery on a partially torn labrum in his right shoulder, the team announced. Rios went on the 10-day IL because of the injury on May 4.
A sixth-round pick of the Dodgers in 2015, Rios tore through minor league pitching and earned his first promotion to the majors in 2019 as a result. Rios thrived both that year and last season, posting far above-average offensive numbers, albeit over a small sample of plate appearances. He took 139 trips to the plate during that span and slashed .260/.338/.634 with 12 home runs and a jaw-dropping .374 ISO, mostly lining up in the corner infield along the way.
Even prior to this injury, this season was a major step back for the 27-year-old Rios, who hit an ugly .078/.217/.137 with one home run and a .059 ISO over 25 games and 60 PA. He’ll now have to wait until 2022 for a potential rebound.
Wow. That sucks. Didn’t realize it was that serious. Have to wonder if he was playing hurt this year. He didn’t look the same compared to 19/20
Shoulder surgery for power hitters sucks. Hope he comes back but reality is he’s gonna have a long road back to a 374 ISO. He was the epitome of light tower power
His swing looked terrible this season! I still don’t understand playing hurt if you’re just prolonging the inevitable, with the potentiality to make the injury worse. Hard to believe the doctors and trainers didn’t catch on sooner. I do wish him well and hope he can recover his form. He had one of those explosive entries into the league and then took one of the hardest falls I’ve seen in a while. That slash line is disgusting.
For all we know, the Docs may have advised that the injury probably wasn’t going to get worse if he at least tried to play through it. Giving up on a season is a huge decision for a player – can’t blame him for trying if that’s the case.
Get will soon Edwin, hopefully we see that light-tower power again soon!
It’s at least a double edged sword and that saying is probably still too simplistic. Shoulder injuries are brutal. 2 years to recover power is not unheard of, it’s almost the norm. Some never are the same. Hanley, Agon, Kemp, all never the same player
So maybe Rios had the medical staffs blessing to try to play thru it, thinking as long as he can make contact, even a injured Rios “should” have some power still.
Maybe it only bothered him on his follow thru, so he kept hush hush, he cut his swing short trying to compensate, and then he could play relatively pain free. Maybe because his ST focus was his glove not his bat, it just went unnoticed, especially again if he was hurt but hid it
Personally, I think he kept it from the staff. Just how it went from nothing, to minor IL, to surgery in less than a week. I think it got worse and worse, to the point he needed medicine for the pain beyond OTC meds. The training staff then IL’d him, let the inflammation subside, and upon MRI review, saw the labrum tear.
It would/will be interesting if we ever find out if they knew and OK’d him playing, or if it was hidden from the team. That could then lead into the answer, did he hurt himself further by playing with it?
I recall reading back in the early 90s when the Mets’ Howard Johnson had shoulder surgery and it turned out to be more extensive than expected based on the MRI that a lot of players probably are playing with undiagnosed shoulder injuries and that not everything is visible on an x-ray or MRI so the extent of damage may not be know until the arthroscope is in..
@Original Dodger, there are so many dense muscles in and around the shoulder capsule that it’s hard to see labrum tears even on MRI film. Often times doctors have to do the ‘finger’ test where they raise your arm at a certain angle and press their finger against various rotator cuff and labrum muscles to see if they can find sharp pain. If they do find this pain then this often means there is a tear of some sorts. I’ve have 3 shoulder surgeries myself (two due to pitching) so I’ve been through it all, including the test where they inject dye into the muscles to help see the tears better. In most cases, doctors don’t know how severe the tear is until they get in there. So in Rios’ case, if he didn’t complain about the pain early on in the season then the medical staff wouldn’t even look for it. I’m guessing he played as long as he could until the pain became unbearable and he finally went to the shoulder surgeon.
Labrum surgery for a non-pitcher should take between 6-9 months to come back from. Rotator cuff tears take a little bit longer. I’m sure Rios will heal fine and be back for a full 2022 season. It’s still bad news for this year’s team though.
Thanks for the info (if it’s accurate haha) @dorothy
I guess you just never know with the human body. We will see if his horrid production was injury related or he really needed the surgery to get him back. Time will tell
What would you think if anytime I threw a ball at a decent velocity I would get dead arm with sharp pain on my shoulder all the way down to my finger tips???
That sucks? Or did you mean he sucks? The dude couldn’t hit a watermelon if you threw it at him.
That explains it. Hope he has a good recovery and ready to mash like he can next season
I’ll never understand trying to play with an injury if it affects you the way that he did with Rios. Go on the IL, get better, and try and help your team while at 100%. Not 42%
Exactly the point I just made! Like you’re only hurting yourself, figuratively and literally. Seems like a terrible decision to pretend through a shoulder injury when you’re role is a hitter. His swing has looked atrocious on top of it. I don’t see how the Dodgers trainers and doctors didn’t notice sooner. Haven’t seen such an abysmal line for a hitter with such a strong start! Also, Dave Roberts as trotting Rios out a whole lot. Took away valuable playing time from someone else. Rios was an easy out in every at bat! I wish him well though and hoping he can recover from the surgery. Must suck to lose out to injury :/
The easy answer is because there are always tears and different types of tears. Some significant enough for surgery, some due to size/location where surgery is not recommended so rehab and pain tolerance is crucial l, other tears where you know eventually you may need surgery when the tear becomes significant enough. Labrum injuries are terrible injuries for throwing type athletes. Death to some careers even. So it’s not easy as saying don’t play and try to get healthy when in fact this may just be the new norm.
We don’t understand it because we’re not professional athletes. I’d love to hear an athlete answer that question honestly, though.
Well, that explains a lot.
Yeah, you can’t play around with a labrum tear. It’s gonna hurt bad when you take a swing in an at-bat. This is a chance for Rios to rehab his left shoulder and a chance for him to do some thinking. And then when he gets better, he can get some practice in on his swing, bettering his swing speed, and identifying pitches better. Good luck to you Edwin.