It was a week ago tonight that Luis Arraez was carted off the field in Houston after he collided with Astros second baseman Mauricio Dubon during a play at first base. Early concerns of a neck or jaw injury dissipated when Arraez was back in the Padres’ clubhouse later that night after a trip to the hospital, and though Arraez was placed on the concussion-related injured list, the three-time batting champ feels he will miss just the minimum seven days.
Arraez took part in a full workout with some other injured Padres players on the field today, and told MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell that he is free of concussion symptoms. Tuesday would mark the earliest that Arraez is eligible to be activated, and he is now just “waiting for the doctor, whatever he says” about a possible okay to resume playing.
As for San Diego’s other injured players, Jason Heyward might also be activated Tuesday, as was working out on the field and is also nearing the 10-day minimum date after his IL placement for knee inflammation. Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that Jackson Merrill and Brandon Lockridge (both out with hamstring injuries) are expected to take part in a live batting-practice session at the Padres’ spring camp on Monday, and Merrill was also feeling good enough to take part in today’s defensive workout. Jake Cronenworth (rib fracture) is feeling good enough to take part in some light fielding drills, but Sanders notes that Cronenworth hasn’t yet attempted diving for balls.
With the weekend wrapping up, here are some more items from the NL and AL West divisions…
- The Rangers activated Jack Leiter from the 15-day IL today, with right-hander Gerson Garabito heading to Triple-A in the corresponding move. A blister issue had kept Leiter from pitching since April 2, and some rust was apparent, as Leiter allowed two earned runs (on four walks and two hits) over 3 1/3 innings in Texas’ 3-2 loss to the Giants. Leiter tossed 76 pitches and was on a pitch count anyway, though obviously the Rangers would’ve preferred to see the former top prospect get a bit deeper into the game. Leiter still has an impressive 2.03 ERA over 13 1/3 innings this season, and will continue in the rotation at least until some of the club’s other injured starters return to action.
- Ezequiel Tovar was eligible to be activated off the Rockies’ 10-day injured list this weekend, but manager Bud Black told the Denver Post’s Jeff Saunders and other reporters that Tovar will need another 7-10 days of recovery time. Tovar is dealing with a left hip contusion and hasn’t played since April 15, leaving the struggling Rockies short one of their few breakout players from the 2024 season.
- Rowdy Tellez was a late scratch from the Mariners’ lineup today, as the slugger is apparently still feeling sore after being hit on the hand by a pitch in Saturday’s game. X-rays were negative on Tellez’s hand, he told Shane Lantz of the Seattle Times and other reporters, so it appears to be a precautionary move on the Mariners’ part. Seattle has an off-day on Monday, so Tellez will receive two full days off before his next attempt to play.
Happy to hear Arraez is better!
Any pitcher who injures a batter with a thrown pitch that results in a lost time injury should be suspended from play for the same amount of time that the batter is unable to perform at the major league level.
MLB needs to take decisive action due to the increased instances of HBP and in particular those that result in lost time injury.
Shut up.
You’re always on every post commenting this and for what reason? Accidents happen. It’s a part of the game, deal with it.
Get real. Those pitchers stand 60 ft away from batted balls that exceed anything they could throw in terms of velocity. The hitters have the luxury of wearing all the armor they want against a stray pitch. The pitcher is out there with his courage and his reaction time. That’s it. The batter is wearing a helmet, in an athletic position to get out of the way or at least shield himself. The pitcher is at the end of an all out movement, totally exposed. Yes, pitchers occasionally throw at hitters on purpose, but it’s usually expected and for a reason. Hitters should deal with it.
Don Os makes a good point, particularly regarding the hitter’s ability to get out of the way. In one sense, there is no batter in baseball who could not get out of the way of every pitched ball. But, because of the way pitchers can deceive hitters with movement, there’s sometimes nothing to be done on the part of the hitter. It’s a hazard of the sport.
If you want a solution, remove the seams so that the ball cannot be made to spin at 3k rpm.
A better solution is removing the ball altogether.
Is a seamless baseball possible?
Sure. You could just Crazy Glue the ball together.
For sure. The baseball is very low tech.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting that’s a “good” solution. It’s the best way to solve one specific problem—a problem we should probably just live with.
Glad he’s alright.
That was a big time collision.
It wasn’t a HBP, it was a collision at first base, and everyone involved seemed to think it was a clean play.
They might be referencing the Tellez injury mentioned later in the article rather than the Arraez injury.
oh I didn’t know that happened to tellez. good for him.
Rowdy off to a heck of a start. Absolutely destroying the baseball.
When he hits it. Batting .170..striking out 34% of time. Sure 4 home runs but has to improve. Hoping he does.
He won’t. He will be even worse. This is the best it gets.
Yes- career .233 hitter. Hitting below the Mendoza line is clearly as good as he gets.
If he keeps hitting like he has his numbers will climb. He’s been unlucky. Walks and strike outs aren’t good.
Walks are good. Hits are better.
If you throw out the first two weeks, Rowdy’s getting better. I still think Locklear will end up over there by mid-May after they DFA Solano, who won’t get signed, and would hopefully sign with Tacoma. Locklear is hitting .333/.415/.516/.931 in Tacoma, where the ballpark is plenty big and the marine layer is just as heavy as Seattle. Only 2 HR, but 11 doubles leads the team.
GM-At this point in his career the word slugger should not be used in the same sentence as his name.
Swing change. Roids. Seeing ball extremely well. Don’t know what’s going on. But hitting the ball as hard as the best players in baseball. The mvp contenders.
Another guy swinging a hot stick is Canario. See latest pirates article. Paul isn’t happy with my comments. Mendoza is pretty much my only fan. But since you a believer Canario is pirates 2nd best hitter. Should be playing every day. Average currently.077 get ready to watch it rise! If they don’t do anything stupid and dfa him. Ops should really explode. SSS but you have to play him and find out.
Padres were a scary good team prior to the injuries to Merrill, Arraez, and Cronenworth. Getting them all back in the next week would be a huge boost to a slumping team.
Merrill is the new Carroll.