Under The Knife 8/7/24

Just Add Pads

Short intro today - I’m thinking I’m going to do less of the longer ones and save those thoughts for UTK Specials - but I want to know why catchers don’t wear a thigh pad when they are “one leg down” style catchers. There’s simply no reason this couldn’t be instituted. Say it would be hard to run? Put it in a pouch so it could be taken out when up to bat, like the rest of the gear. Say no catchers ever get hurt like that? I’ll be honest, I don’t see one in the database, but I have seen it happen and that has to hurt. Does that force a day off, or slow them down just a bit, or take away a couple feet from their power? I think a pad is worthwhile here and I just have no idea why no one’s done this yet, especially since the style is trickling down. There are some that would work designed for skateboarding, but something simpler could work as well.

That million dollar idea aside, on to the injuries:

GRAYSON RODRIGUEZ, SP BAL (strained shoulder)

The O’s got some help at the deadline, but losing Grayson Rodriguez would make that a push. The expected rotation is already down a couple of arms, but a Corbin Burnes-Zach Eflin-Rodriguez three-man in the playoffs sounds pretty good in theory. Rodriguez is dealing with a lat injury, though the team hasn’t provided any specifics. If it’s the upper lat as indicated, this would be like a 2022 injury that Rodriguez had. He also missed time this year with a minor shoulder inflammation that resolved well, but could be related.

That was a Grade II lat strain and he missed three months, though Rodriguez was a hot prospect at the time and was handled very conservatively. If this is a lesser grade strain combined with a more aggressive rehab, Rodriguez could be back in a matter of weeks, giving him plenty of time to be “normal”. It could even end up like his last IL stint, which was just over the minimum. The key here is the grading and exactly where in the muscle (and which muscle - there is some question on that.)

Rodriguez has been good this season, but with the previous injury and the weird pattern of three bad starts where he looks awful and gives up 6 or 7 runs points to the fact that there’s likely been some waxing and waning in a maintenance program. Injuries to the lat and upper shoulder are more common these days, but still rare. Rodriguez throws hard and there’s always a weak link in the kinetic chain, but the O’s are smart, haven’t overworked him - look at those per-game innings in his ‘23 and ‘24 line - and despite all that, here we are looking at missing at least a couple weeks and potentially hurting this team’s playoff chances because something broke in a pitcher’s arm. There are a vast range of outcomes depending on the grading, so we should know more after imaging.