Cubs outfield prospect Alexander Canario suffered a badly fractured ankle and a dislocated shoulder during a Dominican Winter League game on Thursday, according to multiple sources (including reporter Arturo Bisono). While trying to beat out a grounder, Canario awkwardly stepped on the bag and then fell to the ground in obvious pain.
It would seem like Canario will face a substantial amount of recovery time, though no timeline has yet been announced by the Cubs. This is the second notable shoulder injury of Canario’s short career, as he also had surgery to fix a torn labrum in November 2020. Between the canceled 2020 minor league season and then the recovery from his surgery, it isn’t surprising that Canario had modest numbers in 2021, playing with both the Giants’ A-ball affiliate and the Cubs’ high-A team.
Acquired from San Francisco as part of the Kris Bryant trade in 2021, the 22-year-old Canario hit .252/.343/.556 with 37 homers and 23 steals (from 26 chances) over 534 combined plate appearances at the high-A, Double-A, and Triple-A levels last season. This excellent performance sent Canario within the top 10 of Chicago prospects, as per both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. It also put Canario on the radar of several rival teams scouting the Cubs as possible trade partners, according to The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma, but Canario’s status as a trade chip or as a possible difference-maker in Wrigleyville is now on hold until his recovers.
Brennen Davis has also been sidelined by injury, as lower back tightness limited him to just five games in the Arizona Fall League before the Cubs shut him down. Sharma writes that the club hadn’t determined the nature of this new injury, but it doesn’t seem similar to the problem (a vascular formation on his sciatic nerve) that required Davis to undergo back surgery in June.
A consensus pick as Chicago’s second-best prospect and a top-50 prospect in all of baseball, Davis has hit .255/.363/.444 over 906 professional PA since being selected in the second round of the 2018 draft. Multiple injuries have slowed Davis’ progress, as beyond his back surgery, Davis has also had to recover from a concussion and broken nose (after being hit by a pitch during Spring Training), as well as finger injuries in 2019.
Despite all these setbacks, Davis was still moving up the minor league ladder and playing well, before his back problems led to a down year in 2022 and a probable promotion to the majors. Sharma notes that the Cubs are still expected to place Davis on the 40-man roster this winter, since even with the back concerns, he would surely be taken in the Rule 5 Draft.
Miguel Amaya was placed on the 40-man back in November 2019, yet the catching prospect has barely played in the following three years. Beyond the canceled 2020 minors season, Amaya was limited to 23 games in 2021 and then 40 games in 2022 due largely to a forearm strain that resulted in Tommy John surgery. Once Amaya made it back this season, he was limited to DH duty, and then his path back to catching was halted when he suffered a Lisfranc fracture in his left foot in mid-September.
“My offseason focus is to be the best version of me for 2023, and whatever happens, happens,” Amaya told Mark Gonzales of The Chicago Sun-Times. “I just want to be healthy to show everyone who Miguel Amaya is and just have fun and play the baseball I know.”
Amaya has been limited to shoulder and elbow exercises while his foot heals, and while he hasn’t much recent contact with Willson Contreras, Amaya also cited the veteran catcher as an important mentor during his development. In theory, Amaya might’ve already established himself as Contreras’ replacement if healthy, as Contreras is headed into free agency this winter. A top-100 prospect prior to his Tommy John surgery, Amaya might be a factor for the big league roster later in 2023, though he has only 51 games at the Double-A level and nothing in Triple-A.
Ok, PCA. Don’t get injured.
I can’t believe baseball continues to use those concrete bags. In a sport that loves to overpay for free agents you would think you would try to make the sport actually safer. But let’s worry about one 2b breaking his leg on a slide, let’s ignore the 10 guys who blow out there knees a year by stepping on a concrete bag incorrectly
Yarrnable glarfabbin!
Please point us in the direction of the 10+ players who blew their knees out by stepping on the base this year
Watch the baseball highlights one night, there’s one or two knee injuries in the highlights alone
The White Sox lost Eloy Jimenez (hamstring), Luis Robert (hamstring) and Danny Mendick (knee surgery, out for the season) after running out ground balls. Maybe they should have flatter bases or just teach players how to run to first base correctly.
Okay I will google “The baseball highlights” and see what comes up
Wow I didn’t realize hamstrings and knees were the same thing
This got an audible laugh out of me
I bet you have a lot of friends..
I’m not sure what the solution is to be honest because a softer bag could lead to more injuries if a cleat get hung, or maybe it bunches up when the foot hits it….
Injuries happen at first base all the time, throughout all levels… something needs to change. Maybe they do what little does or did and put the double at first, it may help with the collision aspect at least.
I don’t know about 10 guys a year blowing out their knees but injuries happen all the time on that bag, Harper I remember injuring himself, rolling on the ground in pain. And as a Cub fan it does seem yearly someone goes to the il at some point for an injury at first base
What more can anyone want? Hologram bases? Robo baserunners? Bubble wrap uniforms? These athletes are playing on the finest manicured surfaces, not some backlot strewn with garbage and broken glass and they still get injured. Guys are going to get hurt, the end.
The solution is simple. Learn how to run the bases. Guys get hurt at 1B all the time because they usually leap on first base from 10 feet away and come down hard on the base with all their weight on one leg. I had a great L League coach who taught me that you actually GET THERE FASTER by running through the base instead of head first sliding into it or leaping on it. Yet idiots keep doing it all the time and think they know better. It happens every year, and people keep doing it. The old, What’s the definition of insanity reason I guess.
I agree and am annoyed every time I see a slide into first ( on a hit, not a pickoff attempt). It has to be an instinctual thing that they can’t break. The only time a slide is OK igoing into first is to avoid a tag from a bad throw to first.
Not sure where else to post this , but interested to hear others answers. Where do you go for your MLB news including reading/responding to posts??? For me, in order of time allotted, would be: MLBTR, The Athletic, MLB App, ESPN MLB, and Bleacher Report. Curious where y’all spend your time and if I’m missing out on anything good lol. Thank you
The sky of blue sea of green on yellow submarine
Hahaaa! We all live in a mothereffing sub.
That’s a good list right there. the only other one I can think of is the MLB network. it’s bb 24 hours a day, except a lot of their breaking news I’ve already read on mlbtr.
@ignorant. – Do yourself a favor and cancel the Athletic who have the nerve to charge you to read bad writers and get bad information. Go buy your self some beers instead. You’ll get better info from bums on the corner.
When the Giants dealt Canario and Caleb Kilian to the Cubs for Kris Bryant, the Cubs knew exactly what they were doing. Despite Canario’s latest injury, Chicago stole that deal. Kilian in a very small sample with the Cubs did not look good last season. But just wait, this kid is going to be a pretty good starting pitcher.
“Just wait” should be the Cubs‘ slogan.
Well their slogan is actually “wait til next year”, so it’s essentially the same as you suggested.
I’m surprised the giants didn’t know about how much time Bryant missed with back injuries. Colorado too.
Bryant didn’t miss a lot of time with back injuries. Bryant didn’t miss a lot of time with the Cubs. He usually played through his injuries.
Lol really? We traded for guys that aren’t gonna pan out due to injury or ineffectiveness. Right on!! How much longer are you gonna expect either of those players to develop while getting injured or just not playing well?
Still a little early, don’t ya think?
Yeah it might be a little early, but we’re over a year past the trade. Killian looked interesting last year and seems to have regressed. Canario looks interesting from a power aspect now, but at this point he’s not gonna be doing anything impactful for any of the organization’s levels probably until the 2024 season, and that’s if everything goes his way from rehab, getting back into playing shape and finding his timing. While he exhibited the ability to hit a lot of HR’s in a very offensive leaning AAA league, I’m not sure that guarantees he will do anything at the major league level. It’s unfortunate, and I’m rooting for these guys, but they have a long way to go to beat the odds to become even just good everyday Major League Baseball players. Every year that passes, the odds get slimmer. Sure maybe Canario might end up playing in the majors someday and put up a couple seasons like what Patrick Wisdom has accomplished, but I’d of hoped for the cubs sake that they’d do better than that when trading KB. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m not gonna hold my breath till one of these guys makes it and stays in the majors with a long career.
Well, it’s better than having Bryant now—especially at that price and with his bad back.
Extend Contreras already. He’s in his prime, one of the best catchers in baseball. He’s earned an extension, and he wants to be here. Plays with a lot of passion. He and Gomes make a solid tandem. Get it done Jed and Ricketts. Amaya is not coming anytime soon and who are you going to get that’s better? If we don’t resign him, I expect him to be Molinas’ replacement with St. Louis and he’ll be another in a long list of Cub killers.
I doubt he’ll leave the cubs. Hom and Happy were holding their breath at the deadline and we’re thrilled when they weren’t traded. of course things always change. I wouldn’t mind seeing him in a wsox uniform and putting grandal on an ice flow.
He’s a good hitter who plays the catcher position. As far as being a good catcher, there’s a lot that says otherwise. The Cubs pitching staff performs much better when Gomes or PJ is calling the game and Contreras is the DH.
Catcher ERA for 2022:
Gomes 3.69
Contreras 3.99
Higgins 5.15
Contreras is gone. Get a grip. I actually lost interest in Amaya a long time ago. Cubs should just go after Sean Murphy from the A’s and be done with it. The Cubs have the long term controllable assets the A’s would want back. In other words young, cheap help for years to come. Murphy, Gomes and Higgins next year. Higgins actually was a 3B when he started with the Cubs and lord knows we need one of those. Could be a good 3B,1B and 3rd C guy to have on the roster.
This is unfortunate news for the Cubs… Canario really looked like he was turning a corner, his defense looked good in center, obviously the power was on full display, speed and he cut his strike out rates down. He looked like a guy who could find playing in Wrigley in 2023. Now it looks like he will miss a significant part of the season playing in games he really didn’t have to play in.
James McCann from Mets to cubs for Kyle Hendricks. Thoughts?
Hendricks is a wait and see for the Cubs.
Haven’t heard if his shoulder will be ready for spring training. He’ll probably
be dealt at the trade deadline if he is looking good and the Cubs are out of the race. But maybe they will have a shot at it. He’s the last man standing from the 2016 champs.
As for McCann, the Mets blew it when they didn’t trade for Contreras. They might have been able to offload McCann then but they were leery of giving up prospects. I doubt the Cubs would be interested in that contract. I think the Cubs might just roll with Gomes and Higgins and another backup to be signed later.
hands off McCann. he was very good with the wsox who once again didn’t resign him. in his last season with the Sox he caught more innings than that waste of space grandal. if they weren’t so cheap they should have kept him and Rodon. I don’t care what he did with the Mets, I want McCann back.
They can keep McCann and his bad money contract. Cubs just bailed on a horrible money contract- Heyward. So they’ll dive into another one? Nah. Now if the Mets sent the money to go with it from a player for player perspective it totally works for me but Hendricks is coming off the books and McCann is bad money for more years.
Hard pass.
I saw that Davis came out of an AFL game after one AB and hasn’t been seen since. I’ve been trying to figure out what happened to him ever since with absolutely no word at all. I wonder why it took this long for someone to finally figure out what happened and the fact that they actually shut him down. Canario is tragic loss. It will take him quite ahile to come back from a fractured ankle, The shoulder thing is no big deal I would think. To the guy who said they play on manicured fields, He was playing in the Dominican Winter League where I highly doubt the fields are manicured. Killian will be just fine. I think the reason Killian struggled when he went back to AAA was that they had him working on a change up for another pitch. When people go back to the minors it’s sometimes to work on other things. It obviously started out badly but by the end of the season he was putting up numbers again. I’m still waiting and looking forward to seeing what Hoyer and Hawkins come up with this off season. Now that Canario and Davis seem out of the OF picture for awhile, Do they enter the Conforto-Nimmo picture? Or sign Bellinger? Interesting times ahead.