Rays pitching prospect Tyler Zombro was struck in the head by a line drive last night during the eighth inning of Triple-A Durham’s game against Norfolk. Zombro was taken off the field on a stretcher and taken to hospital, as the game was suspended and then later officially halted.
The Rays released a statement on Zombro’s condition earlier today: “As of this morning, Tyler remains under the care of the nurses and doctors at Duke University Hospital. The updates from overnight have been positive, and he remains in stable condition. We are overwhelmed by the support for Tyler and the wishes for his full and speedy recovery from fans and the baseball community alike. We will provide additional updates as he progresses.”
We at MLBTR add our voices to the chorus of support for Zombro, and we’re hoping for all the best in his recovery.
More from around the AL East…
- Ji-Man Choi has been battling left groin tightness and might require a trip to the injured list. Choi missed Thursday’s game with the Yankees due to the issue, and Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) that “I don’t think that he necessarily felt that great today” even after Choi received treatment throughout the game. Arthroscopic knee surgery in March delayed Choi’s season debut until May 16, and he has been making up for lost time with a scorching .304/.448/.522 slash line in his first 58 plate appearances. [UPDATE: the Rays have placed Choi on the 10-day IL with a left groin strain.]
- Corey Kluber’s recovery from a rotator cuff strain is still projected to keep the righty out of action until around the last week of July, but Yankees manager Aaron Boone did provide some positive news in an update with reporters (including Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News). After receiving second and third opinions from doctors, Kluber is expected to start throwing on flat ground within a few days’ time — his initial diagnosis would have kept him from throwing whatsoever for four weeks.
- Pitching is the most obvious need for the Blue Jays at the trade deadline, yet Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith suggests that the Jays should also look to add bench help. As much as the returns of George Springer, Alejandro Kirk, and Cavan Biggio will help matters, adding another bat would guard against any future injuries. Specifically, a left-handed bat would also balance out a Toronto lineup that leans heavily to the right.
- Red Sox pitching prospect Thad Ward recently underwent Tommy John surgery, Alex Speier of The Boston Globe reports. A fifth-round pick for the Sox in the 2018 draft, Ward posted some impressive numbers in his first two pro seasons before making his Double-A debut this season (posting a 5.63 ERA over eight innings). Both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America ranked Ward as a top-ten prospect in Boston’s farm system, but the right-hander will now be on the shelf for the next 13-15 months, and his entire 2022 could be in jeopardy in the event of a rehab setback.
You can do it Zombro. Come on baby, fight. God bless you.
Saw a video of the play. They weren’t kidding when they said a scary scene. Wishing Zombro a quick and speedy recovery.
I searched the web last night to see a video of Zombro getting hit. Just wanted to see what everyone was talking about. Now I wish I wouldn’t have. I’ve seen guys get hit in the head before, but that was just different. He was immediately unconscious and began convulsing. Scared the crap out of me, and I don’t even know anything about the guy. My prayers are with him for a full and speedy recovery.
Average innings per start for the BlueJays is currently 4.1, lowest in MLB. Yah I think the Jays need elite starting pitching.
Old news. This was called in 2021 Spring Training and in years before as well.
The BlueJays aren’t winning anything this year[again] without elite starting pitching and not light innings eaters like Ray, Matz and Stripling. Although both Ray and Matz have shown moments of brilliance, they eventually revert to their lesser selves.
It is time to trade some elite minor leaguers in a package for elite starting pitching to win now. Time to trade SwR, Martin and others….Cashman and Dombrowski would do that.
If the goal is to win now, the heck with the future. It is time to dump the farm system for winning now. I would hang on to Manoah, Pearson, Moreno and Adams and the rest can go.
No question the Jays needed and still need pitching far more than hitting. Having said that, I think you need to let go of the pipe dream of a system emptying trade blitz. Atkins and Shapiro have a track record of trading away assets cautiously. They were brought in to repair a system that was almost completely emptied by the previous administration. They’ve done a pretty solid job of building the system back up. They’re not going to repeat the mistakes of the past regime.
My expectation is that they will do what they often do. They’ll look to acquire mid level talent and in the case of pitching, trust in Pete Walker to try to polish up the incoming players (like he did with Matz, Ray, and perhaps even Stripling if his new changes take hold
I don’t think that’s really worth reading into. Those kind of stats are skewed across the board nowadays due to the presence of openers. Just take Striplings second to last appearance for example. He threw 7 shut out innings, but since there was an opener that game, their “Starting pitcher” average innings would get brought down. They’ve employed that strategy a lot, so it makes sense that that number would be artificially lowered. They do need more pitching, but the early starts from their top three of Ryu, Ray, and Matz are signs not to panic, and potentially the new Stripling could be added to that list if he can toss a couple more quality games like he has been.
One stripling long relief outing doesn’t validate your point. The Jays starting pitching is not championship caliber, not even close. And they will not win this year unless they pick up an elite starter and an elite closer. Period.
That wasn’t my point at all though. You brought up the starting pitchers are averaging 4.1, which I pointed out is an artificially deflated stat.
As for the pitching, nobody is going to argue it is what is going to win games for them in the postseason. The lineup is potentially the best one in the league, and at the very least makes every persons top 5. No pitching staffs look too strong at all across the AL, so hopefully they’ll just need to pickup up an arm or two at the deadline to get into the dance. With Boston coming down to earth and the Yankees being pretty mediocre despite an easy schedule, we’ll gain ground and probably pass them without any additions. Our second half schedule is very weak. Being where we are now with the injuries plus the most difficult schedule in the league to date is definitely a plus in my book.
True enough Caca. The Yanks are due to get Severino and Kluber back eventually. I don’t think the Rays are as good as their recent run and the Redsox might fold. At the beginning of the year I had the ALEast looking like this at the end of 162:
1. Yankees in playoff
2. Rays in playoff
3. BlueJays out of playoff
4. Red Sox
5. Baltimore
Too soon to decide dumping prospects. Doing that just to play a wild card game is counter productive. Jays need to chip away at the division lead and not be 4th to empty the jar.
We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. Jays need elite pitching now, not next year or the year after.
If they wait until the trade deadline this year fine, just as long as they get elite and someone doesn’t scoop up the elite and leave the lays with leftovers.
They needed that pitcher this past offseason.
Jimmer
Wonderful if it works, if it doesn’t then you are facing years of rebuilding. Boom or Bust is not for me, steady is the coarse and add at or before the trade deadline. Name the last team who traded 4-5 Top 100 Prospects in one Year. ( BA- Jays have 8, you just named 3 so that leaves 5 you are willing to trade ) For who? Who is this Elite pitcher you want to gut the farm for? Please provide an example.
All or nothing is how Drombroski wins and how Gillick did it too. Both will be HOF gm’s. Both have also built excellent farm systems.
Scherzer and John Means are the only two elite pitchers available today, but that could change in a few weeks as many more teams fall out of the playoffs.
Gillick was far from All or nothing. The Jays were competitive year after year from 83-93 with at least 86 wins, that is not boom or bust . Gillick built a sustainable winner . Maybe you were not following the Jays back then.
Surely you are not suggesting trading multiple Top 100 prospects for a rental even one as good as Scherzer?
That zombro play was terrible. It looked like he died! I hope and pray Tyler can recover well because that looked like a potentially career ending thing. My thoughts are 100% with Tyler and his family right now you never want that to happen
When players are praying on the field for someone hit, you know it is serious. God bless this young man.
Absolutely crazy how your life can flash through your eyes off a line drive back at you. Coming right at your head. Hit a certain part of the head hit hard enough, could be brain injuries, possibly death? Obviously no doctor. But man, extremely lucky to be okay, and just as unlucky that it happened.
Can’t we just put masks on the pitchers ( like the catchers). Exit velocity keeps climbing. Eventually someone will die (again). Let’s be proactive here and stop it now.
Best wishes Zombro.
I’ve been saying this for 20-30 years. Even if it is just a padded cap, why the heck not? You can make a face shield optional, but breaking your jaw is not the life-or-death situation that a shot to the head might be.
Just making it up as I go along, even cap with a layer of bubblewrap embedded might knock off 5-10 mph off the impact force.
Wholeheartedly agree there. MLB has already eliminated homeplate collision slides so why not do more to protect pitchers. Sure padded protection may be moreuncomfortable under the hot-beating sun but these guys are paid generously to do unnatural things very well. Unfortunately, I hate to say, it’s going take a really bad accident plus an expensive lawsuit for them to make any changes.
A protective cap for pitchers debuted in 2015 when Mets reliever Alex Torres wore it. The Mensa candidates in the baseball fan base made fun of him and none of the other pitchers would wear it.
Seeing that video made me think of this topic as well. I don’t think they’d have to have full on hockey masks, but maybe a type of mask that I see softball pitchers wearing these days? But yeah, it’s something that should be brought up.
They should take a flyer on Brad Miller. At this point he’s better than Tellez and we wouldn’t have to play him in the field too often.
When Springer returns, neither Tellez nor any other DH will get significant at bats.
The Blue Jays can’t add bench help, because they typically play with a 2 or 3 man bench. And if Springer, Biggio and Kirk return there’ll really be no room for any additions.
They should aim for a couple of solid relievers and ideally a solid starter.
#3d base man!!!!!!!
I recall that when a Mets pitcher, Alex Torres, wore the newly developed protective cap, the geniuses in the baseball fan base made fun of him, and none of the other pitchers followed his lead. Because of course fashion is much more important than protecting yourself from potentially life-threatening injuries.
The protective cap that Torres wore would have done nothing in Zombros case as it nailed him directly in the face. Your point still stands though
These reports describing the update on Kluber as “positive” are awfully dubious.
“I think ultimately it’s going to be come down to can he get back to that point of where he’s ready to pitch and be effective,” Boone said. “Pain tolerance is obviously part of that.”
What’s so positive about Kluber pitching through pain, and it’s just the beginning of June? How well is he going to be able to pitch, and how long will he last?
From 2013 through 2018 he threw 18,412 pitches. That’s a lot.