Nationals confirm CF Adam Eaton has torn ACL
WASHINGTON - Nationals center fielder Adam Eaton tore a ligament in his left knee and his season is likely over, the team confirmed Sunday.
General manager Mike Rizzo said Eaton has a “full thickness” ACL tear, plus a meniscus tear and a high ankle sprain.
“His return to this season is unlikely, but we don’t know until the doctors get in there and we’ll see what the surgery leads us to believe,” said Rizzo, who added the surgery date is not set.
In Friday’s 7-5 loss to the visiting New York Mets, the 28-year-old Eaton stepped awkwardly on the bag when he beat out a throw to first in the ninth inning.
“Just trying to make something happen,” Eaton said. “Kind of got outside my zone there and lunged a little bit at the bag. It’s part of the way I play and it’s unfortunate I got snake bit a little bit there.”
He fell down and then needed assistance leaving the field, keeping weight off his left leg.
“It’s probably the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life,” Eaton said. “When I heard it pop I thought it was my ankle, and it was my ACL it wasn’t my ankle. I looked down to basically see if I saw any bones and make sure that everything’s still there.”
Eaton, who went on the 10-day disabled list Saturday, was Washington’s biggest offseason acquisition, arriving from the Chicago White Sox in a trade that included the Nationals’ top two pitching prospects plus a 2016 firstround draft choice.
Syndergaard to have MRI
No debate about it now: Noah Syndergaard is going to have that MRI after all.
The hard-throwing ace of the New York Mets left his start Sunday against Washington in pain, just a couple of days after refusing an MRI and saying he felt fine.
The team announced Syndergaard has “a possible lat strain” and was headed back to New York for an MRI on Monday morning.
It was an exasperating and discouraging turn of events for the injuryplagued Mets (10-14), now missing perhaps their two top players. They put star slugger Yoenis Cespedes on the disabled list Friday with a strained left hamstring.