Injury bug hits NL hopefuls
A trio of NL pennant hopefuls are suddenly dealing with injuries to some pretty important players.
The Philadelphia Phillies lost slugging first baseman Rhys Hoskins on Thursday when he damaged his left knee fielding a grounder in a spring training game. He needs surgery for a torn ACL and is expected to miss a significant amount of time.
St. Louis Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright (groin) and Atlanta Braves closer Raisel Iglesias (inflamed shoulder) also will begin the season on the injured list.
The Phillies didn’t say how long Hoskins is expected to be out. Hoskins, who turned 30 last week, hit six homers in Philadelphia’s playoff run last season. The Phillies lost to the Houston Astros in the World Series.
Philadelphia is already without DH and two-time NL MVP Bryce Harper for at least two months as he recovers from offseason elbow surgery.
Wainwright was in line for his seventh opening day start in what’s slated to be his final season.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol told reporters
Thursday before St. Louis’ spring training game against the New York Yankees that Wainwright could miss several weeks.
The 41-year-old apparently strained his groin in a workout before Team USA lost to Japan 3-2 in the championship game of the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday. Wainwright went 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA over eight innings to help the U.S. reach the final.
“We’ll continue to evaluate over the next few days but no timetable at the moment,” Marmol said, according to the St. Louis Post-dispatch.
With Iglesias, the Braves said an MRI showed the right-hander has “low-grade” inflammation
and will not throw for seven days. Iglesias was expected to move into the closer’s role after Kenley Jansen signed with the Boston Red Sox. Iglesias, 33, had a combined 17 saves last season for the Los Angeles Angels and Atlanta.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals welcomed back to camp Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt, who played for Team USA, along with Lars Nootbaar, an outfielder for Team Japan. Yu Darvish also returned to the San Diego Padres after helping Team Japan to a WBC title.
Note: Roger Clemens will be an analyst for ESPN when defending World Series champion Houston hosts the Chicago White Sox on opening day.